Since then, she has had more than a few Adventures. Of course, my conception of being a writer was to wear a cape and have Adventures.' 'I wanted to Live, not spend my life in a library. But when she won a student exchange to Keele University in England, where her passion for Russian history led her, she awoke in the middle of the night on her twenty-first birthday with the revelation she wanted to write fiction. As an undergraduate at Reed College, Fitch had decided to become an historian, attracted to its powerful narratives, the scope of events, the colossal personalities, and the potency and breadth of its themes. Janet Fitch was born in Los Angeles, a third-generation native, and grew up in a family of voracious readers.

Written with exquisite beauty and grace, this is a compelling debut by an author poised to join the ranks of today's most gifted novelists. White Oleander is an unforgettable story of mothers and daughters, burgeoning sexuality, the redemptive powers of art, and the unstoppable force of the emergent self. Tough, irrepressible, funny, and warm, Astrid is one of the most indelible characters in recent fiction. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison.

Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery-but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Janet Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men.

Janet fitch author