Highly-awarded fiction author and West Virginian Jayne Anne Phillips returned to WVU, her undergraduate alma mater, on Thursday, April 14, to read from her latest novel, Quiet Dell (Scribner, 2013).

Author Jayne Anne Phillips reading from Quiet Dell

Based on a real life crime, Quiet Dell tells the 1931 story of a Chicago family whose lives all end tragically in a garage in West Virginia at the hands of a con-man who preys on widows. The novel first unfolds through multiple voices from within the family and then continues from the perspective a Chicago journalist covering the trial. Phillips began her reading with factual background about the crime and the characters, then read from several sections throughout the book to provide the story arc—but without giving the final secrets away.

Phillips is known for her five novels and two story collections, particularly her 1994 novel, Shelter, and her 1979 debut collection, Black Tickets, which is said to have influenced a generation of writers. She is currently Board of Governors Professor of English and director of the MFA program at Rutgers University-Newark. WVU creative writing professor Christa Parravani studied with Phillips during her MFA.

Before you read Quiet Dell, be sure to listen to the recording of her reading for insights into the crime and characters from which the novel was created. Thanks to the Center for Literary Computing’s Creative Readings Podcast for recording the event.