Arts & Entertainment

Coming Home

Trumbull-born Alison Espach left home in 2003 is returning Sunday a published novelist.

As an undergraduate student, Alison Espach was not sure what to do with her English major.

So after graduation, she turned to the Fine Arts masters degree program at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and wrote a thesis - which has become her first novel.

Now, at 26, Espach is published, complete with a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal. She also just moved to New York where she teaches writing and continues to write in her spare time. She's returning to her roots Sunday at the to talk about her debut work.

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"It was kind of a process of infinite hope," Espach said of her achievement.

She remembers writing many stories as a child and a teenager that looked good when she started them. But then she didn't like them at the end. It was graduate school where she really felt comfortable sending out a full-length novel.

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"When I finished it, I didn't hate it," she joked of her book, which she spent two years polishing with the help of her advisors and teachers.

Some of the novel might contain indirect images of her childhood in Trumbull, where she graduated from in 2003.

"A lot of it's my subconscious," she said.

"I wrote most of the book when I was in St. Louis. It was my general impression of [Connecticut] after I went away," the writer added.

The book deals with Emily Vidal, a teenager coming of age, as she deals with a range of emotions and adult situations. It partly reflects Espach's admitted Judy Blume influence.

The Wall Street Journal called the book "one of the funniest books I've read in a long time," according to the review posted on her Web site, AlisonEspach.com.

"Ms. Espach's coup is to chart Emily's growth through her maturing sense of humor. The hilarious first chapter features biting adolescent snark (adults, she complains, are "boring and powerful—saying any boring thing and getting away with it"). But as disasters strike, Emily's reflexive joking becomes layered with a sense of helplessness. Witty ironic detachment becomes her means of escape, and it gives her a strange double identity. Ms. Espach handles the pervasive irony perfectly. We're always able to see both the smirking mask that Emily shows the world and the tumult of feelings stirred by her traumatized love for her teacher," according to the review.

Espach said much of her work to date mixes emotions.

"Most of of the things I write are voice-driven. They tend to be tragically funny. There's always a blend of humor and tragedy," she said.

But writing the book was the first half of the process. Two publishers rejected it before she caught her break. Her secret, she said, is perseverance despite the many rejection letters since she started submitting her writing for publication four years ago.

"I felt like was very lucky," Espach said.

Graduate school also showed her how to get an agent, and she also approached agents representing other writers of books similar to hers.

Now her road will be taking her to the library in Fairfield, the town where her brother lives. She'll also be speaking at her alma mater, Providence College, and in New York.

As for her next book, Espach said she doesn't want to jinx the idea. "It's a secret for now," she said.

Library Director Sue Horton said she was "thrilled" to have Espach speak.

For more information, the author's Web site is Alisonespach.com. She will speak from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. today.


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