Hinton, Lynne

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Hinton, Lynne

(J. Lynne Hinton, Jackie Lynn)

PERSONAL: Born in Durham, NC; daughter of Jack (a reverend) and Shirley Hinton; married Bob Branard. Education: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, undergraduate degree; Pacific School of Religion, M.Div.; also studied at Wake Forest University and North Carolina School of the Arts, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Home—Denton, NC. Agent—pc/o Author Mail, Publicity Department, St. Martin's Press, 175 5th Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Pastor and writer. Ordained Baptist minister, 1990; Hospice of Rockingham County, chaplain, beginning 1990; Hospice of Alamance-Caswell, chaplain; Mount Hope United Church of Christ, Guilford County, NC, pastor, 1992; First Congregational United Church of Christ, Asheboro, NC, pastor, 1998; Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC, columnist.

WRITINGS:

(As J. Lynne Hinton) Meditations for Walking (nonfic-tion), Smyth & Helwys Publishers (Macon, GA), 1999.

Friendship Cake (novel), HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

The Things I Know Best (novel), HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Garden of Faith (novel), HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

Forever Friends (novel), HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

The Last Odd Day (novel), HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2004.

The Arms of God (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2005.

WORK IN PROGRESS: "Shady Grove" mystery series for St. Martin's Press, under the pseudonym Jackie Lynn.

SIDELIGHTS: Having grown up in and around the church, it was not surprising that Lynne Hinton would become an ordained Baptist minister in 1990. The religious upbringing she received also pervades many of her books. Friendship Cake, for example, tells the story of five women from the same church group who strengthen their friendship and faith by collaborating on a cookbook. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly described the novel as "sincere but frothy." In the sequel, Garden of Faith, many of the characters are losing control of their lives, ranging from Pastor Charlotte's faith-trying experiences to Jessie's newfound health problems. While noting some flaws in the work, Booklist critic Melanie Duncan believed that "fans of the first book will want to read the second."

The Things I Know Best mixes the sacred with the profane as members of a small-town family deal with and apply their abilities to tell the future. Danise Hoover, writing in Booklist, praised Hinton's "deep understanding of the psyche of the women she writes about." In The Arms of God Olivia meets the mother who abandoned her as a child. When her mother dies, Olivia is left alone in the task of putting the pieces of the past back together. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews reasoned that despite some "uneven lyricism," Hinton creates "some fine characterizations."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 2001, Danise Hoover, review of The Things I Know Best, p. 1731; May 1, 2002, Mela-nie Duncan, review of Garden of Faith, p. 1507.

Charlotte Observer, November 19, 2005, "Five Questions for Lynne Hinton."

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2004, review of The Last Odd Day, p. 242; September 1, 2005, review of The Arms of God, p. 935.

Library Journal, June 1, 2000, Melanie C. Duncan, review of Friendship Cake, p. 106.

Publishers Weekly, March 22, 1999, review of Meditations for Walking, p. 88; April 10, 2000, review of Friendship Cake, p. 74; August 7, 2000, Barbara Roether, review of Friendship Cake, p. 24; April 23, 2001, review of The Things I Know Best, p. 50; February 11, 2002, review of Garden of Faith, p. 159; May 24, 2004, review of The Last Odd Day, p. 45; September 5, 2005, review of The Arms of God, p. 32.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), December 28, 2003, review of The Things I Know Best, p. 6.