Kimberly Brock is the bestselling author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Townsend Prize for Fiction, The River Witch, recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year Award. She is the founder of Tinderbox Writers Workshop and has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national writing workshops including at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. A native of North Georgia, she now lives near Atlanta, Georgia.
Expanded Bio
Kimberly Brock is the best-selling author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare and her award-winning debut, The River Witch.
The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare spent three weeks on the Southern Independent Booksellers bestseller list and was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize for Fiction.
Her debut was an Amazon bestseller featured by both national and international book clubs and included in multiple reading lists. Praised by RT Reviews and Huffington Post as a “solemn journey of redemption, enlightenment and love,” and evocative of “the stories of Flannery O’Connor and Carson McCullers,” Kimberly’s debut novel was honored with the prestigious Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2013, by the Georgia Writer’s Association.
A former actor and special needs educator, Kimberly received her bachelor’s degree from the University of West Georgia in 1996. In 2014, Kimberly founded Tinderbox Writer’s Workshop, a transformative creative experience for women in the arts. Kimberly has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national groups, including The Women’s Fiction Writer’s annual conference and The Pat Conroy Literary Center. She lives near Atlanta with her husband and three children.
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Photo credit: Claire Brock Photography
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Praise for THE LOST BOOK OF ELEANOR DARE by Kimberly Brock
“…a soothsayer of women’s wisdom. [Brock] takes the Roanoke story’s loose ends and plaits them into an elegant, intricate braid, to muse on what might have happened if Eleanor Dare had survived and produced a long line of proud and plucky female descendants. Gentle in tone, it is matrilineal feminism at its most dreamy.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is an intriguing, dreamy story about the impact of one unhealed woman who has yet to reconcile her past in such a way that lends itself to transparency with her young daughter . . . Author Kimberly Brock delicately balances mystery, family lore, and honoring one’s forebears in sonorous language throughout a sweeping story with three points of view, two timeframes, and remarkably steady pacing. Weaving myth and legend with historical fact pertaining to an age-old American mystery, The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is a spellbinding, beautiful story written by a graceful hand with just the right amount of mysticism.”
—New York Journal of Books
“A beautiful keepsake of a novel that is at once historical and speculative, “The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare” is the empowering tale of nearly 20 generations of women surviving, thriving, and sometimes vanishing, by virtue of their abilities to shoulder the weight of their pasts, to discover and learn the lessons of their present, and to pass on their wisdom from mother to daughter through the inheritance of their stories—some of which may even be true.”
—The Post and Courier
“Expect the book to attract an eager audience of readers who enjoy women’s fiction.”
—Booklist
“In this complex, compelling, and beautifully crafted novel, Kimberly Brock explores not only the enigma of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, but also the boundless mysteries of love, family, and the human heart. As Alice Young and her daughter Penn settle into Evertell, the crumbling ancestral estate they’ve just inherited, they discover secrets long hidden in the shadows there, keys to understanding their own veiled pasts. This is a story filled with many charms, both literal and figurative, and I guarantee it will captivate readers from the first page to the last.”
—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land
“Amid the atmospheric backdrop of the Lowcountry, Brock stirs up a beguiling blend of family legacy, historical mystery, and generational connections, examining the unbreakable ties of mothers and daughters, the power of stories told and stories hidden, and the unquenchable need to understand those who came before us. A beautiful tale to curl up with and contemplate the intertwining of lives past and present.”
—Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends
“From its haunting first line, The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare transports the reader to a mysterious land, time and family. Kimberly Brock’s trademark whimsical storytelling shines in this Southern-soaked tale of family legacy and the magic of female history as she imagines what might have happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke. With only an engraved stone and a book left behind, the captivating women of the Dare legacy must find their true inheritance hiding amidst generations of untold secrets.”
—Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling author
“Compelling and immersive, The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is the story of Dare’s descendant Alice, who pushes away the pain of the past until her daughter Penn holds her accountable to the family story. Brock’s lush narrative is rich in American and Virginia history with deep roots in the mysterious disappearance of the lost colony on Roanoke Island. As Alice and Penn seek answers, they rely on the enduring strength of their foremother Eleanor, who was determined to leave the truth behind so generations might walk in its light.”
—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone
“Multi-layered and shimmering with beautiful prose, Kimberly Brock has crafted a luminous story that deftly ponders the way of sacrificial love.”
—Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things
“A richly atmospheric, distinctively Southern story of mothers and daughters, family secrets and what it means to find home.”
—Elizabeth Blackwell, bestselling author of Red Mistress
“The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is a beautiful exploration of the bonds between women, the stories they pass down to one another through grief, adversity and triumph, the secrets they keep, and the inner worlds they share. Brock has crafted a keenly observed, heartfelt tale that will linger with readers long after they finish reading.”
—Megan Chance, bestselling author of A Splendid Ruin
“For readers of Patti Callahan and Kate Morton, this harrowing exposition on history and loss is a juxtaposition of love, hope and the wisdom that binds women across centuries. The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare’s plea that we learn from each other, grow from each other and empower each other is wrapped in an arresting, urgent voice that reads as much a rallying cry as a tract on the burden of women to suture the cracks of history. A magnanimous undertaking steeped in impeccable research, Brock offers a feast of a narrative that crackles with a resonant, binding echo of sisterhood across the centuries.”
—Rachel McMillan, author of The Mozart Code
“Kimberly Brock’s The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is an immersive, engrossing tale about the lost colony of Roanoke, but even more significantly, about the relationship between a mother and daughter whose lives have been irrevocably altered by loss. Brock’s writing is lush and captivating, and her characters are rich and complex. A masterful work by an expert craftswoman,The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare is not to be missed.”
—Aimie K. Runyan, bestselling author of The School for German Brides