Jennifer E. Smith's Windfall

 On a recent rainy Wednesday evening the Lake Forest Book Store was filled with fans listening to YA author Jennifer Smith discuss her new book Windfall and her path to writing popular, well-received novels for teens.  Smith is a native of the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff area, graduating from Lake Forest High School in 1999.  After several years in the publishing industry, she decided to devote herself to writing full time, with increasing success.  She now lives in NYC, counting many other authors, such as Jenny Han and Jay Asher, as friends and sounding boards.  Her books have been translated into 30 languages and she recounted several memorable book events abroad: “In the Philippines authors are treated like rock stars!”  In response to questions, Smith said she likes to write about “what if” scenarios, or hinge moments, when life can completely change in one moment or event.  She had wanted to write about lotteries for a while (the central “what if” in Windfall) but couldn’t get quite the right angle.  At first, she considered two families who live next to each other and how winning would affect them.  But then came the idea of focusing on one winner, an older teen (Teddy) who is just figuring what to do with his adult life, complemented by a girl friend (Alice) who secretly loves him  but not what he does with his new wealth, and you have a best seller.   Smith thinks Windfall was the hardest book for her to write so far, and she does go deeper than in previous books into philosophical issues of luck, fate, adaptability and change.  “Is all change good?” wonders Alice.  “Maybe just all change can be good.”

  

Other books by Jennifer E. Smith

  Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between.  High school sweethearts Clare and Aidan spend the night before they leave for college reminiscing about their relationship and deciding whether they should stay together or break up.
 

   

 The Geography of You and Me.  Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy Patterson and seventeen-year-old Owen Buckley meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally.

This is What Happy Looks Like.  Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O'Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don't even know each other's first names. What's more, Ellie doesn't know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn't know about the big secret in Ellie's family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.

 

   The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.   Hadley and Oliver fall in love on the flight from New York to London, but after a cinematic kiss, they lose track of each other at the airport until fate brings them back together on a very momentous day.

  You Are Here.  Sixteen-year-old Emma Healy has never felt that she fit in with the rest of her family, so when she discovers that she had a twin brother who died shortly after they were born; she takes off on an impulsive road trip to try to discover whom she really is.
 

  Comeback Season.  High school freshman Ryan Walsh, a Chicago Cubs fan, meets Nick when they both skip school on opening day, and their blossoming relationship becomes difficult for Ryan when she discovers that Nick is seriously ill and she again feels the pain of losing her father five years earlier.