Beth Gutcheon is a best-selling

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

author who has written ten novels and two

quilting Quilting is the process of joining a minimum of three layers of textile, fabric together either through stitching manually using a Sewing needle, needle and yarn, thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting ...

books.

Life and career

A graduate of

Miss Porter's School Miss Porter's School (MPS) is a private college preparatory school for girls founded in 1843 in Farmington, Connecticut. The school draws students from many of the 50 U.S. states, as well as from abroad. International students comprised 14% i ...

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The populati ...

, Gutcheon went on to study at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, earning a bachelor of arts with honors in English. In 1973, Gutcheon published her first book, ''The Perfect Patchwork Primer.'' Two years later came its sequel, ''The Quilt Design Workbook'', written with then-husband, Jeffrey Gutcheon. Both works are considered classics in their field. In 1978, Gutcheon wrote the narration for a feature-length documentary about the Kirov ballet school in St. Petersburg, Russia, called '' The Children of Theatre Street'', which was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

. Other screenplays include ''The Good Fight'' (1992), starring Terry O’Quinn and

Christine Lahti Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film '' Swing Shift''. Her other film roles include '' ...And Justice for All'' (197 ...

, for Lifetime. Gutcheon's first novel, ''

The New Girls ''The New Girls'' is a 1979 novel by American author Beth Gutcheon. The novel, which describes the experiences of five young women in 1960s America, was based on Gutcheon's experiences at Miss Porter's School. Some characters experience anore ...

'', was published in 1979. The novel drew loosely upon the author's own experience of the cruel and rarified atmosphere of elite boarding schools, and was well received by critics. Her second novel, ''Still Missing'', was translated into 14 languages, and published in a condensed version by Reader's Digest, a large print edition for the vision-impaired, and made into an audio book. Gutcheon used her appearances promoting the novel, whose plot centered on a child abduction, to elevate the subject of missing children to the level of a national issue, raising public awareness and support for Child Find of America. The appearance of Missing Child photos on milk cartons was a direct result of this campaign, as was the creation of

National Missing Children's Day National Missing Children's Day has been commemorated in the United States on May 25, since 1983, when it was first proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan. It falls on the same day as the International Missing Children's Day, which was established ...

. ''Still Missing'' was bought for the screen by movie producer Stanley R. Jaffe, who had recently won the Best Picture

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for ''

Kramer vs. Kramer ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' is a 1979 American legal drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on Avery Corman's 1977 novel. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry and Jane Alexander. It tells the story of a couple ...

''. Gutcheon was retained to write the screenplay. The finished film, titled ''

Without A Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002, to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

'', was released by

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

in February 1983, starring

Kate Nelligan Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film '' The Prince of Tid ...

Judd Hirsch Judd Seymore Hirsch (born March 15, 1935) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series '' Dear John'' (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS ser ...

, and

Stockard Channing Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Stockard Channing, Her accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a nomination for an Acade ...

. Because of the similar timing of ''Still Missing'' and ''

'', some suggested a strained relationship between Gutcheon and the parents of famously missing child

Etan Patz Etan Kalil Patz (; October 9, 1972May 25, 1979) was a six-year-old American boy who disappeared on May 25, 1979, on his way to his school bus stop in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. His disappearance helped launch the missing children ...

. The controversy was corrected in a 1982 letter to the Editor at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' where Stanley K. Patz, Etan's father, said "We repeatedly stated that we had no quarrel with Beth Gutcheon and that we liked her." In spring 2010, ''Still Missing'', was re-published in the UK by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

, a London-based publisher committed to reprinting "neglected classics by 20th Century (mostly women) writers". Gutcheon's other novels include bestsellers ''Domestic Pleasures'' (1991) published in British, French, German and Swedish editions, ''Saying Grace'' (1995), ''Five Fortunes'' (1998), and ''More Than You Know'' (2000) which are all available in German, as well. ''More Than You Know'' went on to become a

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Best Book of the Year. ''Leeway Cottage'' (2005) became a national bestseller the same year that

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

republished Gutcheon's entire backlist in uniform trade paperback editions. Her 2008 novel ''Good-bye and Amen'' was published in hardcover and

HarperPerennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Overview Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint foun ...

trade paper back editions; the audio version was a finalist for an Audie Award for Best Recorded Novel of the Year, 2010. Her 2012 novel ''Gossip'' was released by

on March 20, 2012. ''The Affliction'', the sequel to ''Death At Breakfast'' (2016), was released by Wm/Morrow/HarperCollins in 2018.

Selected works

*Novels: **March, 2018: ''The Affliction,'' A Maggie Detweiler and Hope Babbin mystery, #2 ( Wm. Morrow/

, , Wm. Morrow Trade Paperback, 2013, , HarperLuxe Large Print edition, ,

Harper Audio HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the " Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is ...

Unabridged Audio Book, 2016, ) **2016: ''Death At Breakfast,'' A Maggie Detweiler and Hope Babbin mystery, #1 ( Wm. Morrow/

, , Wm. Morrow Trade Paperback, 2013, , HarperLuxe Large Print edition, ,

Unabridged Audio Book, 2016, ) **2012: ''Gossip'' ( Wm. Morrow/

, ,

Trade Paperback, 2013, ) **2008: ''Good-bye and Amen'' ( Wm. Morrow/

, ;

Trade Paperback, 2009, ;

Tantor Media RBMedia is an audiobook publishing company with sales globally. Headquartered in Landover, Maryland, it claims to be the largest audiobook publisher in the world. The company was founded in 2017 through the acquisition of independent audiobook co ...

Unabridged audio, 2008) **2005: ''Leeway Cottage'' ( Wm. Morrow/

;

Trade Paperback, 2006, , ; Chivers Sound Library/AudioGo Unabridged Audio Book, 2005;

Abridged Audio Book, 2005) **2000: ''More Than You Know'' ( Wm. Morrow/

, ;

Trade Paperback, 2001, , ; Wheeler Large Print edition, 2001;

Recorded Books Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an ...

Unabridged Audio Book, 2001; German Edition, 2005) **1998: ''Five Fortunes'' (Cliff Street Books, 1998, ;

Trade Paperback, 1999, ;

Harper Perennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Overview Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint foun ...

Trade Paperback, 2005, ; German Edition, 2005) **1995: ''Saying Grace'' (

, 1995, ;

Trade Paperback, 1996, ;

Trade Paperback, 2005, ; German Edition, 2005) **1991: ''Domestic Pleasures'' (

Villard Villard may refer to: People *Villard (surname) Places France * Villard, Creuse *Villard, Haute-Savoie * Villard-Bonnot, in the Isère department *Villard-de-Lans, in the Isère department * Villard-d'Héry, in the Savoie department *Villard-Lé ...

, ;

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

Mass Market Paperback, 1992, ;

Trade Paperback, 2001, ,

Trade Paperback, 2005, ; French, Swedish and German editions; New German edition, 2005) **1981: ''Still Missing'' ( G. P. Putnam, ;

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

Mass Market Paperback, 1982, ; British edition, French hardcover, trade paperback and mass market paperback editions in 1982, plus a hardcover movie tie-in edition. Also German, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Brazilian, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and Spanish editions, plus a pirated translation in Cantonese, a large print edition, and a recording for the blind; mass market paperback movie tie-in edition 1983 as ''Without a Trace'',

, ;

Trade Paperback 2005, , ; New German edition 2005; New British publication by Persephone Books, 2009, ) **1979: ''The New Girls'' ( G. P. Putnam, ; Avon Mass Market Paperback, 1981, ;

Sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

British Edition Paperback, 1982;

Trade Paperback, 1996, ; New

Trade Paperback Edition, 2005, , ; German edition 2005) *Quilt books: **1976: ''The Quilt Design Workbook'' with Jeffrey Gutcheon ( Rawson Associates Hardcover, ; Alchemy Press Trade Paperback, 1978, ) **1973: ''The Perfect Patchwork Primer'' (

David McKay Company David McKay Publications (also known as David McKay Company) was an American book publisher which also published some of the first comic books, including the long-running titles ''Ace Comics'', ''King Comics'', and '' Magic Comics''; as well as ...

, ;

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

Trade paperback, 1981, , )

References

Sources

Miss Porter's School for Girls

New York Times Review of ''Without a Trace'', 1983
*

' at Persephone Books
Author Profile
at Persephone Books

External links

Beth Gutcheon Official Website

HarperCollins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutcheon, Beth 1945 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Harvard University alumni Miss Porter's School alumni