Jane Delury

Author of
Hedge and The Balcony

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About

Jane Delury is the author of the novels Hedge ( a People Magazine and Oprah Daily pick) and The Balcony, which won the 2019 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her short stories have appeared in Granta, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, The Yale Review, and other publications. Her awards include a PEN/O. Henry Prize, a Pushcart Prize (2026) and Pushcart Special Mention, and grants from the Maryland State Arts Council. Her essays have been published by The LA Times, Real Simple, LitHub, Oprah Daily among others. She holds a BA in English and French literature from UC Santa Cruz, a maîtrise from the University of Grenoble, and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. A professor at the University of Baltimore, she teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts and directs the BA in English. She lives in Baltimore with too many houseplants and her husband, the writer Don Lee.

Hedge

A Summer 2023 Oprah Daily and People Magazine Pick

“This novel about the challenges of parenting a troubled teen while trying to pursue a career will wrap you in captivating, high-stakes drama.”

–People Magazine

Garden historian Maud Bentley packs up her daughters to spend a summer at a Hudson Valley estate, leaving her husband behind in California. An idyllic return to days in the sun restoring a 19^th century garden takes an unexpected turn when Maud becomes entangled with her archeologist neighbor. Just as Maud’s life seems set on a new, exciting course, her eldest daughter reveals an explosive secret that drives the family back to Marin. The lies and passions of that summer continue to haunt Maud years later, as she restores the garden of one of San Francisco’s founders. Another unexpected encounter and a growing friendship—this time with the reclusive artist funding Maud’s project—resurrects old questions and patterns, bringing the past back to the surface and forever changing Maud’s life.

Praise:

“A great portion of [Hedge’s] magic lies in how it turns a radical corner, gaining speed and burning urgency―then slowly becoming something else: deeper, denser, wiser. Readers will (and should) trust it to take us where we need to go―even if not where we expected.”
―The Washington Post

“With language as lush as the setting, Delury pulls readers into a thicket of lust, responsibility, and betrayal that they won’t want to escape.”
―Oprah Daily

“This novel about the challenges of parenting a troubled teen while trying to pursue a career will wrap you in captivating, high-stakes drama.”

–People Magazine

“Dodging romantic predictability while also acknowledging the heart’s true priorities, [Hedge] delivers an engaging new journey from ignorance to knowledge via a garden.”
—Kirkus

“A roller coaster of a novel about family, creation, love, and shifting priorities, lush with detail and delicately rendered. Readers will be thinking of Delury’s protagonist long after these pages close.”

—Shelf Awareness

“The book is brimming with high-stakes tension…and readers will find themselves unable to put the book down until they find out what happens next.”
―BookTrib

“Delury’s second novel speaks to the complexity of managing a troubled marriage, a career, and motherhood all at once. Shocking twists folded into a tale of shifting priorities, passion, and responsibility, make for an excellently crafted page turner.”

―Chronogram

“Millions of women will relate.”

―Johns Hopkins Magazine

“A beautiful exploration of the inherent tension between motherhood and desire. Transfixing and utterly rewarding.”
—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular

Reading Hedge was like spending time with your best friend: the daring, smart, compassionate one whose wisdom opens your eyes even as her secrets stun you. Part love story, part thriller, this novel kept me entranced until the very last page. A warm, glorious and exciting read!

―Jean Kwok, New York Times and international bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee

“The magnificent Delury explores the complexities of marriage, parenthood, and art in Hedge. Maud is an every woman, relatable and strong, who loves her work and her daughters but finds herself at a crossroads when a secret is revealed that will upend their lives. As Maud restores gardens to their historic beauty, she must do the same for the family she loves. Passion and persistence bring a garden to full bloom, and so it goes for Maud, an unforgettable character in a story of arresting beauty and truth.”
―Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone

“Jane Delury has done the impossible: written a seemingly quiet novel about a woman trapped in a bad marriage that builds and builds and builds until suddenly you realize you’re reading a page turner. I could not stop turning the pages. Hedge is a wonderful book.”
—Marcy Dermansky, author of Hurricane Girl

“Hedge immediately pulls the reader in with its engaging storytelling and its exploration of themes like marital and maternal love and betrayal. Every turn the story takes feels both surprising and earned. I loved this novel and will recommend it widely.”

—Liz Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Long Bright River

“It’s impossible to turn away from Jane Delury’s newest novel, Hedge. I fell deeply and intensely into this story of love, loss, marriage and parenthood. These are characters, this is a book, you will never forget.”
—Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane

“Hedge insightfully explores the complexities of marriage and motherhood, and the danger of family secrets that fester. Delury builds up her characters while breaking down their reserves, and the result is an honest, beautiful, and riveting read.” -Karen Winn, author of Our Little World

“Hedge begins as a contemporary love story, but grows into a complex and suspenseful narrative about family. All the big themes—love, life, loss—bind together in this page-turner, with writing that is clear and riveting throughout. A gem of a book from start to finish.”
—Catie Marron, author of Becoming a Gardener: What Reading and Digging Taught Me About Living

“How do we protect those we love when there might be a terrible cost to ourselves? Which version of a story do we really believe about ourselves and others—and why? Delury’s immersive novel is about family and lovers, passion and responsibility, and it’s filled with such gorgeous writing, compassion and stunning surprises, that I couldn’t bear to tear myself from the page.”
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You

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Events

March 5th

AWP offsite reading/CWPA Reading Series, University of Baltimore Student Center

Tim Seibles, Paisley Rekdal, Jane Delury, Betsy Boyd, Marion Winik, and Steven Leyva

March 7th

Faulty author signing, University of Baltimore, Creative Writing and Publishing Arts table, AWP book fair, 10-11 a.m.

AWP panel moderator, Writer, Interrupted: Writing Through and About Illness with Hannah Bae, Jessie Chaffee, Yoojin Grace Wuertz and Chet’la Sebree, 12:10 a.m.

March 10th

In conversation with Jung Yun for the launch of her wonderful new novel, ALL THE WORLD CAN HOLD, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 7-8 p.m.

The Balcony

Winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters “Jane Delury’s startling, accomplished first novel, The Balcony, devotes itself to the lives of the inhabitants of a French manor house and attached servants’ cottage over a century. The beautifully arranged structure leads the reader back and forth in time through changes in place and history, revealing the interconnected stories of individual characters with a master’s subtlety. Memorable, distinct, surprising, The Balcony evokes two World Wars, a terrorist attack, and family secrets passed on generation to generation, rendering architectural and human interiors with introspective sadness and beauty.” — Citation by the Literature Award Committee (Joy Williams, Amy Hempel, Henri Cole, John Guare, and Jayne Anne Phillips) Published by Little, Brown in the US, Hodder & Stoughton in Australia and New Zealand, and Colibri in Bulgaria.