Set on a remote Greek island, it follows a young man, Nicholas Urfe, who is teaching at a local school. I realize now that this is the book that first made me want to write. I read it again last year, having first devoured it in my year off, when the novel made a deep impression on my adolescent mind. It’s sheer delight in Scheherazade-style storytelling-tales within tales-is infectious, as layer upon layer of falsehoods are peeled back to reveal ‘truths’ that prove to be anything but. Listed below are some of my favorite thrillers:Īpart from some troubling misogyny, John Fowles’s 1965 masterpiece, revised in 1977, remains essential reading. I draw inspiration from a range of writers. Except that when she walks up to her house, another couple is living there… All she knows is that she lives in the village. She has lost everything-driving license, bank cards, cells phone. The Last Thing She Remembers, my new thriller, begins with a woman who turns up in a rural village in England, unable to remember her own name. Take a sprinkling of relatable, engaging characters drawn from everyday life, throw them into a situation dripping with jeopardy, add unreliable narration to taste (the more unreliable the better), and top off with a fast-paced storyline that has more twists and turns than a pretzel. It’s that 1am moment: just one more chapter? And the suspense novel has all the ingredients for a through-the-night read. She is especially drawn to investigative journalism and deeply researched narratives that advance our current conversations about race, class, gender, and politics.I like to read books that compel the reader to keep turning the page. In nonfiction, she is looking for narratives and collections that illuminate some aspect of our society or culture with an eye towards social justice. She loves novels that subvert dominant cultural narratives and engage with themes of identity, belonging, community, inheritance, and diaspora. She’s particularly interested in smart, funny coming of age novels braided narratives of friendship or family literary mysteries and atmospheric stories with a speculative or fabulist twist. In fiction, she is looking for literary fiction and book club fiction with a strong, distinctive voice. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Literary Agents of Change.Īcross the board, Sonali is drawn to character-driven stories that center historically marginalized voices. She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents, where she serves on the Board of Directors and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Sonali earned her degree in English and Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California and began her career in publishing at Kaya, an independent press dedicated to publishing authors from the Asian diaspora. Her clients include co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Curtis Chin poet, performer, and storyteller Joél Leon contributing editor to Vanity Fair Maureen “Mo” Ryan speaker and LGTBQ+ advocate Julie Rodgers and psychologist and intergenerational trauma expert Dr. Sonali Chanchani is a Literary Agent at Folio, representing literary and book club fiction and narrative nonfiction.
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