Harbison, Beth 1966- (Elizabeth Harbison, Elizabeth M. Harbison, Elizabeth McShulskis Harbison)

PERSONAL:

Born July 6, 1966; married; husband's name John (a musician); children: Paige, Jack. Education: Attended University College London, England; University of Maryland, College Park, B.A., 1987.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Germantown, MD, and Washington, DC. Home and office—Germantown, MD. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, novelist, and chef. Worked as a private chef in the Washington, DC, area.

MEMBER:

Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, Kentucky Romance Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Family Seal of Quality Award for Loaves of Fun; RITA Award finalist, Romance Writers of America, for Wife without a Past.

WRITINGS:

Shoe Addicts Anonymous, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

UNDER NAME ELIZABETH M. HARBISON

The Bread Machine Baker, Wings Books (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Mary McGowan) A Taste for Love: Romantic Meals for Two, Wings Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Loaves of Fun: A History of Bread with Activities and Recipes from around the World, illustrated by John Harbison, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 1997.

Four Seasons with the Bread Machine Baker, Gramercy Books (New York, NY), 2001.

UNDER NAME ELIZABETH HARBISON

A Groom for Maggie, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Wife without a Past, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Two Brothers and a Bride, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 1998.

True Love Ranch, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1998.

(With Christina Skye) A Walk down the Aisle (audio cassette), Afterglow, 1999.

Emma and the Earl, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1999.

Plain Jane Marries the Boss, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Annie and the Prince, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1999.

His Secret Heir, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2001.

A Pregnant Proposal, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2001.

Mission Creek Mother-to-Be, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2002.

Drive Me Wild, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Midnight Cravings, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Princess Takes a Holiday, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2003.

The Secret Princess, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Taming of the Two, Silhouette Books (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2005.

Diary of a Domestic Goddess, Silhouette (New York, NY), 2005.

How to Get Your Man, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2005.

If the Slipper Fits, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2006.

A Dash of Romance, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Falling for the Boss, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and novelist Beth Harbison is a former chef who worked for private clients in the Washington, DC, area. Harbison has been interested in writing fiction since she was student in grade school, where she added some sixty pages to the novel Black Beauty and created a happy ending to the story, reported a biographer on SFF Net. The author of three cookbooks, she has also penned more than twenty romance novels under the name Elizabeth Harbison, most of which appeared under the Silhouette imprint.

Loaves of Fun: A History of Bread with Activities and Recipes from around the World is one of her early cookbooks, and provides not only a selection of bread recipes but also a capsule history of the origin and history of bread and breadmaking. Harbison points out that early bread was considerably different from what we think of as bread today; the earliest known examples were more akin to thick oatmeal than the luxurious loaves in the baker's windows today. She suggests that an accidental melding of yeast into a bread mix, possibly by a clumsy baker's apprentice in Egypt spilling ale into the dough, could account for the origins of modern bread. She investigates how bread came over with the first settlers as a type of hard, round bread called ship's biscuits, designed to weather long voyages without spoiling. In addition to making a vital staple food, flour can also be used to make paint and modeling dough. Booklist critic Chris Sherman noted that Harbison's book could be useful as a beginning point "for a study of food as part of culture."

Shoe Addicts Anonymous is Harbison's hardcover debut, a novel that could easily be categorized as chick lit. The story centers on four women who find shoes a perfect vehicle for forming strong new friendships, and for discovering the courage to make necessary changes in their lives. Lorna Rafferty is a shopaholic, addicted to eBay, and deeply in debt for the purchases she can't keep herself from making. Returning home to her Bethesda apartment one day, she discovers that the electricity has been turned off because the bill hasn't been paid—worse, she doesn't know where the money will come from to make the payment. Helene is the gorgeous wife of Senator Jim Zaharis, a charming philanderer who has her trapped in a stifling, loveless marriage. For spite, he cancels her credit cards after he discovers she's been taking birth control pills, preventing herself from getting pregnant with the child, heir, and photo opportunity he's been craving. Sandra Vanderslice is unhappy, overweight, and agoraphobic, mostly confined to her apartment where she manages to make a living, without leaving the house, as a phone-sex operator. When Lorna places an online ad on Gregslist.com, looking for members for a shoe trading and appreciation club, Helene and Sandra answer her ad. Once the curious and freaky have been eliminated, the final member is Joss Bowen, a twenty-something nanny who uses the shoe club as an excuse to get away from her loathsome boss and her odious children. Soon, the four have bonded deeply over pumps and boots, revealing their life stories to each other as they swap ownership of footwear worth hundreds of dollars. They realize that each of the four has "an empty spot in her soul that she tried to fill with all sorts of material things, especially shoes," observed Maggie Harding on Bookreporter.com. The story is complicated when they notice a man following Helene, who they conclude might be involved in a blackmail operation. Other complications arise as each of the women works to gather the courage and initiative to make necessary changes in her life.

Booklist reviewer Aleksandra Kostovski called the novel "pleasing and stylish," while a Publishers Weekly contributor remarked that "Harbison creates vivid, convincing characters and handles them well." A reviewer on the Once upon a Romance Web site called the novel "a gem." Harbison "does a great job showing the warmth and wit that prevails in so many women's friendships," commented Melissa McLaughlin on the Curled up with a Good Book Web site. "She manages to portray the bond between the four women without falling back on any useless stereotypes, and in doing so, keeps the story fresh, interesting, and amusing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 1997, Chris Sherman, review of Loaves of Fun: A History of Bread with Activities and Recipes from around the World, p. 1491; May 1, 2007, Aleksandra Kostovski, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous, p. 73.

Bookseller, December 22, 2006, "Arrow Hits Targets," review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous, p. 13.

Children's Digest, September, 1997, review of Loaves of Fun, p. 26.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2007, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Library Journal, June 15, 1999, Jodi L. Israel, review of A Walk down the Aisle, p. 124.

Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2007, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous, p. 144.

School Library Journal, September, 1997, Carolyn Jenks, review of Loaves of Fun, p. 230.

U.S. Kids, September, 1997, review of Loaves of Fun, p. 31.

ONLINE

Beth Harbison Home Page,http://www.bethharbison.com (January 17, 2008).

BookLoons,http://www.bookloons.com/ (January 17, 2008), Lori Waddington, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (January 17, 2008), Maggie Harding, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Chick Lit Chicks,http://www.chicklitchicks.com/ (January 17, 2007), review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Curled up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (January 17, 2008), Melissa McLaughlin, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Daily Collegian Online,http://www.collegian.psu.edu/ (December 7, 2007), Stephanie Goga, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Heartstrings Reviews,http://www.heartstringsreviews.com/ (January 17, 2008), Cheryl Jeffries, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Kuwait Style,http://kuwait-style.com/ (August 18, 2007), review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Midwest Book Review,http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ (January 17, 2008), Harriet Klausner, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

MyShelf.com,http://www.myshelf.com/ (January 17, 2008), Barbara Buhrer, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Once upon a Romance,http://www.onceuponaromance.net/ (January 17, 2008), Amy Lignor, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Romance Reader,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (January 17, 2007), Cathy Sova, review of Annie and the Prince; Cathy Sova, review of Two Brothers and a Bride.

SFF Net,http://www.sff.net/ (January 17, 2007), biography of Elizabeth Harbison.

Shoe Club,http://www.shoeclub.us/ (January 17, 2007), Shelley Hachman, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.

Washingtonian,http://www.washingtonian.com/ (January 17, 2008), Emily Donahue, review of Shoe Addicts Anonymous.