Martha O'Connor

ABOUT ME

I'm the author of The Bitch Posse , now in paperback from St. Martin's/Griffin (USA), also known as The Bitch Goddess Notebook , now in paperback from Orion (UK).
My newest book is titled TINK and is forthcoming from G.P. Putnam's sons in late 2008 or early 2009. Read more about it below!
In the traditions of Gregory Maguire's Wicked and Geraldine Brooks' March, Tink is the dark and fearless biography of an all-too misunderstood character from one of childhood's best-loved classic novels.
Tink takes a Neverland born of youthful imagination and infuses it with dark, multilayered conflicts, telling the romantic, brutal, and ultimately hopeful tale of the Irish changeling known as Tinker Bell. Heretofore, Tink was merely a jealous faery who played second fiddle to Peter Pan; but this bold new novel reveals her to be a complicated, sensual, powerful, and in some ways tragic woman haunted by her past and battling her own demons of drink and obsession. Along the way, Tink finds herself intertwined with such classic characters as Captain James Hook and Wendy Darling, whose motivations and actions are far more complex than anyone ever thought.
In Tink, the common house faery who is capable of only one emotion at once is blown fully into the character that she is, with dark and light sides, flaws and strengths. A completely realized journey of the human spirit, a complex exploration of the temptations of power and the search for identity, and a tale of rising above past pains to meet the future, this original, ambitious novel is steeped in the details of Irish history and legend, the secret Tinker language of Shelta, the glory days of pirates, and the darkest, unexplored corners of Neverland itself. Extending far beyond J.M. Barrie's well-loved faery tale, Tink takes on a life and spirit all its own and adds adult resonance to one of childhood's most intriguing characters, who despite her flaws has a hardscrabble ability to triumph against the odds.

Besides my passions for reading and writing, I am committed to juvenile diabetes advocacy and awareness. My 10-year-old son was diagnosed on July 17, 2004, and I want a cure more than anything in the world.
Learn more about me at my website , or check out my blog.
Find out more about Type 1 Diabetes at Children with Diabetes. Do you know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2?
Help find a cure! Check out the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING "Compulsively readable... delicious and slightly macabre. It's easy to see Posse as the descendant of [Julian F. Thompson's The Grounding of Group 6] and other thrillingly gloomy YA classics such as John Neufeld's Lisa, Bright and Dark, Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden or Paul Zindel's oeuvre...." -The Washington Post Book World"This taut, psychological thriller is the tale of three women haunted and scarred by a violence shared in their mutual past. A finely crafted page-turner, this is a great read for fans of Donna Tartt or Joyce Carol Oates." -Bonnie Raught, Chester County Bookstore, West Chester, PA (Staff Pick)"O'Connor paces her book expertly, weaving together the voices of her three narrators to create maximum suspense... a riveting and emotionally charged read. No fluff here." -Chicago Tribune"Unforgettable, dark... The triumph of this novel consists in its compulsive readability... it feels great, it feels terrible, you want more, you shouldn't do more, you do more, it's over, it's not, it can never be over." -San Francisco Chronicle"An angsty, serious novel of lost dreams and sexual damage" -Marie Claire (UK)"'You have now entered a Chick-Lit-Free Zone,' warns this debut novel on Page 1. And it's true: There's nothing pink and frilly about this tale of three high-school girls, bonded by miserable home lives and then sworn to secrecy by a horrible event that ruins their lives. It's scathing, dark and impossible to put down." -The Newark Star-Ledger"A sizzling page-turner." -Cosmopolitan"Don't disbelieve the hype. [The Bitch Posse] is good a debut as it's cracked up to be... It's edgy, smart and sexy, like its heroines... What could have been just another coming-of-age story is redeemed by strong narrative voices, pungent writing and a splendid Grand Guignol finale." -Tatler (UK)"There's a buzz about this book that tells us it's going to be huge this summer... it's more bitch lit than chick lit. Reminiscent of cult movie 'Heathers', it revels in the seedy underbelly of American life, and features the kind of female angst Alice 'Lovely Bones' Sebold would be proud of... The novel flits back and forth from school days to adulthood, where none of the girls remains in contact but all share a dark secret. Believe us when we say you won't be able to rest until you find out what it is." -Glamour (UK)"O'Connor nails the intense, us-against-the-world, overcooked emotion that defines the friendship of teen girls and the druggy delirium of first, sexual love. She also has a sharp eye for the posturing of the young and unloved, perfectly describing the pretense of toughness that belies a raw, gelatinous core." -The Cleveland Plain-Dealer