Lise Haines’ fifth and latest novel is BOOK OF KNIVES. Her four earlier books are WHEN WE DISAPPEAR; GIRL IN THE ARENA, a 2011 South Carolina Book Award Nominee, optioned by HBO; SMALL ACTS OF SEX AND ELECTRICITY, named a Book Sense Pick in 2006 and one of 10 “Best Book Picks for 2006” by San Diego’s NPR station; and IN MY SISTER'S COUNTRY, which The Rocky Mountain News selected as one of 12 “Stellar Debuts” for 2002.

A past finalist for the PEN Nelson Algren Fiction Award, she is Senior Writer in Residence at Emerson College and a former Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard University. Her stories and essays have appeared in AGNI, Ploughshares, Post Road, Crosscurrents, The Barcelona Review and elsewhere. Haines received her undergraduate degree from the Creative Writing program at Syracuse University and her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Santa Barbara, California, was her home for many years, and she currently lives in Boston near her daughter, a video game producer. Lise Haines’ parents were journalists in Chicago where she grew up. She recalls writing her first novel about a cat when she was nine, on her mother’s Olivetti typewriter on green newsroom paper. Today, on a free afternoon, you will find her writing, curled up with a novel, lost in a museum, at the movies, out in nature or exploring the city. Her favorite travels have taken her to Kyoto, Paris and Venice.

Books by Lise Haines

Book of Knives

by Lise Haines - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

When Nora agrees to help her new husband, Paul, and his family fix up Hidden Lake Camp, she didn't expect it to be in such a state of ruin. Only a few months, he said. They'd drive north to get Paul's elderly parents settled while he and his brother make enough repairs to sell the property. But the summer camp and its deep lake have other plans. On the first night, Nora stumbles through a first meal with his difficult family. Her sister-in-law shows off a prized collection of handmade knives, 13 in all. Long summer days stretch before them, and one by one the knives begin to disappear. There's talk of ghosts, secret rooms, and someone at the summer camp found dead in the tall grass.

Girl in the Arena

by Lise Haines - Fiction

Small Acts of Sex and Electricity

by Lise Haines - Fiction