Frances has published more than 20 critically acclaimed and popular books for younger readers, and has won the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile from the Mystery Writers of America and The William Allen White Children’s Book Award, among others. She published her first book for adult readers — Birds in the Air — in 2016.

In 2016, Frances embarked on a new phase of her writing career by publishing the quilting novel Birds in the Air, her first novel for adult readers. While the audience was new, she didn’t range far afield at all in terms of subject matter. Frances is an avid quilter and for most of the last decade has hosted a quilting podcast that allows her to connect with fellow quilters around the world.

Combining her love of telling stories and her love of quilting was a natural step. “There’s a rule of thumb for writers: Write the books you want to read,” Frances said. “I’m so happy whenever writers like Jennifer Chiaverini, Marie Bostwick and Sandra Dallas come out with new quilting novels — I wish more quilters wrote books!” To shop Frances’s books for younger readers, please visit FrancesDowell.com

A Bold Experiment…
When Frances got a few hundred pages into the first book of a new series set during the middle years of the 20th century in the fictional town of Milton Falls, Ohio, she decided to try something new. You are witnessing the results right here — a podcast reading of the first draft of a novel as it develops combined with blog posts highlighting the research materials supporting the writing. Listeners and readers are also invited to weigh in on the story, creating a realtime conversation between writer and reader. Why not join the conversation?