Judith Guest

Judith Guest
Born	(1936-03-29) March 29, 1936 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Period	1976–present
Genres	Literary fiction, mystery
www.judithguest.com

Judith Guest (born March 29, 1936) is an American novelist and screenwriter. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the great-niece of Poet Laureate Edgar Guest (1881–1959).

Work

Guest's first book, Ordinary People, published in 1976, was made into a 1980 film Ordinary People that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. This novel and two others, Second Heaven (1982) and Errands (1997), are about adolescent children forced to deal with a crisis in their family. Guest also wrote the screenplay for the 1987 film Rachel River.

Guest co-authored the mystery Killing Time in St. Cloud (1988) with fellow novelist Rebecca Hill. Guest's most recent book, The Tarnished Eye (2004), is loosely based on a real unsolved crime in her native Michigan.

Personal

Guest attended Detroit's Mumford High School in 1951. When her family moved to Royal Oak, she transferred to Dondero High School, where she graduated in 1954. Guest then studied English and psychology at the University of Michigan, graduated with a BA in education, and was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority. She taught at a public school for several years before making the decision to devote herself full time to completing a novel.

Guest is married to businessman Larry LaVercombe, a former All-City basketball player at Detroit's Cooley High School and graduate of the University of Michigan. They have three sons and several grandchildren, all residing in Minnesota.

Bibliography

• Ordinary People (1976)
• Second Heaven (1982)
• Killing Time in St. Cloud (with Rebecca Hill) (1988)
• The Mythic Family (essay) (1988)
• Errands (1997)
• The Tarnished Eye (2004)

External links

• Official website
• 2004 Interview
• Works by or about Judith Guest in libraries (WorldCat catalog)