Fitzgerald, Laura 1967-

PERSONAL:

Born 1967, in Milwaukee, WI; married; children: two. Education: University of Wisconsin at Madison, B.A., 1990.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tucson, AZ. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

Veil of Roses, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Laura Fitzgerald was inspired to write a novel about another culture after viewing a series of well-received films that showed how two cultures can both clash and meld in modern society, including My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Bend It Like Beckham, and Spanglish. Fitzgerald, whose husband was born in Iran, decided to write a story about an Iranian woman that showed the lighter, everyday side of modern Persian culture. The result was Veil of Roses, a novel about twenty-seven-year-old Tamila "Tami" Soroush, who lives a relatively restricted lifestyle in Iran. When her parents send her to spend three months in Tucson, Arizona, in hopes that she will find a husband there and remain in America, Tami has a chance to see the larger world. She suddenly finds herself able to walk down the streets freely, take English classes at a nearby library, and flirt with Ike, the cute man she meets at Starbucks. Commenting on Ike's story-book charms in a review for the Romance Reader Web site, Susan Scribner opined: "If only Fitzgerald had given him a little bit of an edge, a few flaws or some attribute that made him seem more realistic. Tami is such a strong and admirable heroine that she could have managed a soul mate with a few idiosyncrasies." Scribner went on to conclude, however, that the book is "a delightful yet thought-provoking novel." A writer for Publishers Weekly called the book "pat but sweet," and Deborah Donovan, in a review for Booklist, remarked that it was "a fun, romantic, and thought-provoking debut novel from a promising author."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2006, Deborah Donovan, review of Veil of Roses, p. 27.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2006, review of Veil of Roses, p. 1033.

Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2006, review of Veil of Roses, p. 35.

ONLINE

Laura Fitzgerald Home Page,http://www.laurafitzgerald.com (April 22, 2007).

Laura Fitzgerald MySpace Page,http://www.myspace.com/laura_fitzerald (April 22, 2007).

Romance Reader Web site,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (April 22, 2007), Susan Scribner, review of Veil of Roses.