It took nearly a decade for acclaimed and best-selling author Jane Hamilton to ferret out her latest novel’s protagonist, Phoebe.
“The Phoebe Variations,” Hamilton’s first book in nine years, was released Sept. 23, and she’ll be at Watermark Books on Monday, Sept. 29, to talk about her book with KMUW podcaster Beth Golay. Hamilton, who has visited Wichita on previous book tours, said she requested the return visit.
“I wrote many different iterations of this book with different plot trajectories, and it kept not working,” said Hamilton, the author of seven previous critically acclaimed novels, including “The Book of Ruth” and “A Map of the World,” which were Oprah Book Club selections and made into movies. She won the prestigious PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel for “The Book of Ruth.”
But her challenges weren’t just literary. There were life events like aging parents, an ill sister, the pandemic lockdown and the purchase and redevelopment of a former bank building in her adopted home of Rochester, Wis. Hamilton and her husband, who also own an apple orchard, closed on the purchase of the building, which now houses a coffee shop, right before the pandemic shutdown.
What finally worked was a coming-of-age story that revolves around an intense friendship, mothers, self-discovery and unexpected connections. It’s told from the perspective of an older Phoebe looking at the major event that derails her life in 1974: when her adoptive mom, Greta, insists Phoebe meet her biological parents and siblings. Phoebe refers to the event as when Greta “detonated her little bomb” right before her high school graduation.
Phoebe turns to her childhood friend Luna for help in running away after the traumatic introduction. She ends up in the rather chaotic home of their mutual friend Patrick O’Connor and his 13 siblings. What follows is Phoebe’s journey as she “grapples with her shifting identity,” as described on the book’s jacket.
The novel is also an exploration of Phoebe’s intense relationship with Luna. They met as 12-year-olds who had a love of “Jane Eyre,” and eventually drifted apart, but the impact of that friendship continued through the decades. Luna, who becomes a self-help guru and influencer, even uses Phoebe’s life as fodder for one of her books.
“The Phoebe Variations” is Jane Hamilton’s first book in nine years.
Like Phoebe, Hamilton grew up in the 1970s in a place where big families like the O’Connors were the norm. She’s said she’s intrigued by mothers of that time.
“Not only because of how in the world do you wake up in the morning and face 12 children, but also it was a time of tension because the feminist revolution was happening, the birth control pill had been invented and a lot of the Catholic mommies probably had to wrestle with that,” said Hamilton, who grew up in Oak Park, Ill.
While crafting Phoebe’s character was challenging, it was a process she loved, Hamilton said. In between her stops and starts in writing “The Phoebe Variations,” Hamilton also started work on another novel, “which hasn’t been my style.”
Part of her dogged pursuit of Phoebe’s story was inspired by an all-male performance of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” that British actor and director Mark Rylance brought to a Broadway theater.
“It was such a joyful experience being in that theater, and I went home and wanted to create something even half as joyful as I felt watching that production,” Hamilton said.
“Writing can be very difficult and challenging, and you really just have to get yourself in the chair and stay there,” Hamilton said. “But I really love writing. I love to write. I love being taken out of my real life and having this kind of communion with myself and building this thing that takes over. So why did I keep doing it? Because I really like to and because I really, truly don’t know what else to do with myself.”
“The Phoebe Variations,” published by Zibby Publishing and retailing for $27.99, is on the Oprah Daily list of the 25 best books of fall 2025.
‘The Phoebe Variations’ author event with Jane Hamilton
When: 6-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29
Where: Watermark Books, 4701 E. Douglas Ave.
Admission: Free, RSVP online
More info: 316-682-1181 or watermarkbooks.com/event/2025-09-29/store-author-event-jane-hamilton