Douglas Kennedy is an American author best known for writing the bestselling Leaving the World.

Kennedy grew up New York and decided to wanted to be a writer from a young age. He attended Bowdoin College in Maine before he moved to Ireland to study at Trinity College. He would return to America and go to work, unsuccessfully, as a stage manager for a time before returning to Dublin on a trip that would change his life. On his return, he would co-found a theatre company that lead to him joining the National Theatre of Ireland as administrator of its experimental theatre. He would stay there five years before resigning to write full-time.

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Publication Order of Standalone Novels

The Dead Heart (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Big Picture (1997)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Job (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Pursuit of Happiness (2001)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Temptation (2002)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Special Relationship (2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
State of the Union (2005)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Woman in the Fifth (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Leaving the World (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Moment (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Five Days (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Blue Hour (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Heat of Betrayal (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Great Wide Open (2019)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Isabelle in the Afternoon (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Afraid of the Light (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

The Christmas Ring (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Mistake (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Beyond The Pyramids (1988)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
In God's Country (1989)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Chasing Mammon (1992)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Anthologies

New Woman, New Fiction(1990)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

If You Like Douglas Kennedy Books, You’ll Love…

Leaving the World sees a woman named Jane who at the age of thirteen swore that she would never get married or have children. Life had other plans for her though. Now, she’s working as a professor in Boston and in love with a man named Theo. She ends up pregnant and motherhood comes which turns out to be a welcome surprise for her. A devastating turn of events tears her life apart and she leaves all that she knows behind. She has renounced her life, but now there has been a disappearance of a young girl which she knows she can help the police with. She’ll have to choose between staying hidden or brining the truth to light.

The Pursuit of Happiness takes place in 1945 after the war is over. Sara meets a U.S. Army journalist back from Germany at a party for her brother Eric. His world view is far different from the others at the party and Sara is drawn to him. Their relationship will have have profound consequences, both for themselves and for those closest to them for decades afterwards.

Order of Books » Authors » Order of Douglas Kennedy Books

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