Half Price Books is pleased to present the fascinating stories behind some of our bestselling books. In this exclusive series curated for you, the Half Price Books fanatic, look for great material like what inspired authors to write their stories or details on character development. Half Price Books has the answer for all those burning questions you've always wanted to ask authors.
Things You Save in a Fire
Katherine Center
"I know what it’s like to have a job you love like breathing. I know what it’s like to work like crazy to get good at something that’s impossibly hard. "
More with Katherine Center
Hope Rides Again
by Andrew Shaffer
"...humor is just a tool in the writer or performer’s toolkit. Like a hammer, you can use it to pound a nail in, or pull it out. It’s all in how you wield it."
More with Andrew Shaffer
Whisper Network
by Chandler Baker
"Things are changing. Slowly, definitely unevenly, but I do think they are changing, thanks largely to the many brave women who have stopped whispering.
More with Chandler Baker
Before We Were Yours
by Lisa Wingate
"I always seek out a happy ending. That can be tough when you are dealing with history that is as difficult as this plot."
More with Lisa Wingate
The Spies of Shilling Lane
by Jennifer Ryan
"...I simply love the way people spoke, the way their world looked, their firm and unwavering beliefs. In many ways it was a simpler time than these. War makes life and death incredibly stark: gripping hold of what’s good is the best that anyone can do."
More with Jennifer Ryan
When We Left Cuba
by Chanel Cleeton
"...a book filled with longing and hope, sacrifice and loss, and a testament to the extraordinary lengths to which one will go in order to return home again."
More with Chanel Cleeton
Maid
by Stephanie Land
"People in poverty do work very hard. They possibly work harder than anyone else."
More with Stephanie Land
Watching You
by Lisa Jewell
"The first glimmer of the genesis of Watching You was a feeling that there seemed to be an awful lot of news stories about very suburban people in very suburban love triangles committing murder."
More with Lisa Jewell
The Minimalist Home
by Joshua Becker
"...there is an almost magical effect when people right-size the quantity of their possessions—in the process, the people themselves are changed in positive ways."
More with Joshua Becker
Once Upon a River
by Diane Setterfield
"The river is beautiful and dangerous and mysterious, and as I walked with the current, following its meanders, I found myself thinking of a story I had encountered for the first time when I was a child."
More with Diane Setterfield
Queen of Air and Darkness
by Cassandra Clare
"How do you fight corruption while preserving your own integrity?"
More with Cassandra Clare
The Clockmaker's Daughter
by Kate Morton
"...novels have the ability, even when they’re read by a great many people, to make an intimate connection every time."
More with Kate Morton
The Keto Reset Diet Cookbook
by Mark Sisson
"I relish the opportunity to continue spreading the message that preparing and eating "real food" is one of life’s greatest pleasures."
More with Mark Sisson
Leia: Princess of Alderaan
by Claudia Gray
"Be brave. Stand up for what you believe in. Come through for your friends, and they’ll come through for you."
More with Claudia Gray
The Light Between Worlds
by Laura E. Weymouth
"That is the profound magic of storytelling. How tales told by others, and about others, teach us who we are."
More with Laura E. Weymouth
When the Men Were Gone
by Marjorie Herrera Lewis
"You do not need a role model to become a role model."
More with Marjorie Herrera Lewis
Bridge of Clay
by Markus Zusak
"People would tell me, 'Just write one of your other ideas,' to which I’d say, 'I don’t have any other ideas.'. . . Everything was going into this."
More with Markus Zusak
The Girl They Left Behind
by Roxanne Veletzos
"…my family’s story of survival during the war and the years of Soviet occupation was nothing short of fascinating and harrowing, giving me rich material to work with."
More with Roxanne Veletzos
The Devil’s Thief
by Lisa Maxwell
"I wanted to write a character who is so strong and completely badass, because I thought it would be fun to see what she could do…"
More with Lisa Maxwell
When We Were Young
by Karen Kingsbury
"Tears fell down my cheeks as I wrote much of this book. I think it will have the same impact on readers."
More with Karen Kingsbury
Faerie Knitting
by Alice Hoffman & Lisa Hoffman
"There’s a deep, timeless truth in fairy tales that speak both to children and to adults."
More with Alice Hoffman & Lisa Hoffman
Handcrafted
by Clint Harp
"If I’m successful at being me, then everything else has a way of falling into place, even if it takes a while."
More with Clint Harp
The Sisters of the Winter Wood
by Rena Rossner
"I wanted to write a book that brought Orthodox Jewish teens to life in a way that gave them agency, in a way that had them become the heroines of their own fairy tales."
More with Rena Rossner
The Boneless Mercies
by April Genevieve Tucholke
"Don’t let fear dictate your path. Work hard. Be both proud and humble. Allow rejection to ignite your determination."
More with April Genevieve Tucholke
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock
by Imogen Hermes Gowar
"...I believe that to create convincing characters you must respect them and listen to what they have to say for themselves."
More with Imogen Hermes Gowar
The Dark Between the Stars
by Atticus
"I dedicated this one to my mother – she introduced to me to poetry by hiding it where I’d find it."
More with Atticus
Good Luck With That
by Kristan Higgins
"Good Luck with That was born with a vision—three teenage girls at weight loss camp, imagining life when fat wasn’t an issue."
More with Kristan Higgins
A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza
"There was one sentence I added toward the very end, and writing it into the margin moved me to tears, despite how insignificant the line seemed…"
More with Fatima Farheen Mirza
All Your Perfects
by Colleen Hoover
"I thought the idea of the love letters was such a great idea and wanted to incorporate it into a novel somehow. In order to do that, though, I’d have to write about a married couple..."
More with Colleen Hoover
Eat Cake. Be Brave.
by Melissa Radke
"I decided to tell the stories I grew up hearing, write the way I talk and not cry over spilt (sweet) tea."
More with Melissa Radke
There There
by Tommy Orange
"I don’t separate running and writing anymore. It’s become such an essential part of my process. I can’t do one without the other."
More with Tommy Orange
Social Creature
by Tara Isabella Burton
"If a sentence isn’t good enough to retype, it’s not good enough to be in the book. It’s harsh, but freeing, since it gives me permission to experiment in each draft, knowing I’m not stuck with anything that doesn’t work."
More with Tara Isabella Burton
How to Walk Away
by Katherine Center
"The kind of story I love the best—ones with characters who just refuse to give up."
More with Katherine Center
Meddling Kids
by Edgar Cantero
"I enjoyed the cosmic horror of Lovecraft & friends’ as a young adult; I wondered what would happen if those two genres clashed."
More with Edgar Cantero
The Perfect Mother
by Aimee Molloy
"...I think the book will appeal to a wider audience, sparking conversations about gender roles and friendship, and the high-pressure expectations we place on new parents to do things in a sanctioned way."
More with Aimee Molloy
Baby Monkey, Private Eye
by Brian Selznick & David Serlin
"Make things that you love...my books are often about the same things I loved when I was a kid."
Watch more of Brian Selznick & David Serlin
The Astonishing Color of After
by Emily X.R. Pan