Beth Gutcheon

A graduate of Miss Porter's School{{Cite web |url=http://www.porters.org/ftpimages/301/misc/misc_67719.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-05-22 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200101/http://www.porters.org/ftpimages/301/misc/misc_67719.pdf |url-status=dead }} in Farmington, Connecticut, Gutcheon went on to study at Harvard University, earning a bachelor of arts with honors in English.

In 1973, Gutcheon published her first book, The Perfect Patchwork Primer.{{Cite book |isbn = 0140462120|title = The Perfect Patchwork Primer|last1 = Gutcheon|first1 = Beth Richardson|year = 1974}} Two years later came its sequel, The Quilt Design Workbook,{{Cite book|isbn=0892560371|title=The Quilt Design Workbook|last1=Gutcheon|first1=Beth|last2=Gutcheon|first2=Jeffrey|date=October 1976}} written with then-husband, Jeffrey Gutcheon. Both works are considered classics in their field.{{cite web|url=http://quiltershalloffame.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Quilters_Hall_of_Fame_Selected_Reading.345183323.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-01-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007023555/http://quiltershalloffame.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Quilters_Hall_of_Fame_Selected_Reading.345183323.pdf |archivedate=2014-10-07 }}

In 1978, Gutcheon wrote the narration for a feature-length documentary about the Kirov ballet school in St. Petersburg, Russia, called The Children of Theatre Street, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Other screenplays include The Good Fight (1992), starring Terry O’Quinn and Christine Lahti, for Lifetime.

Gutcheon's first novel, The New Girls, was published in 1979. The novel drew loosely upon the author's own experience of the cruel and rarified atmosphere of elite boarding schools, and was well received by critics.{{cite web| url = https://www.harpercollins.com/web-sampler/9780060977023| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160406205437/https://www.harpercollins.com/web-sampler/9780060977023| archive-date = 2016-04-06| title = Book Web Sampler : The New Girls {{!}} Paperback}}

Her second novel, Still Missing, was translated into 14 languages, and published in a condensed version by Reader's Digest, a large print edition for the vision-impaired, and made into an audio book.{{Cite web |url=http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060977030 |title=Harper Collins |access-date=2012-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426200928/http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060977030 |archive-date=2014-04-26 |url-status=dead }} Gutcheon used her appearances promoting the novel, whose plot centered on a child abduction, to elevate the subject of missing children to the level of a national issue, raising public awareness and support for Child Find of America.{{cite web |url=http://www.childfindofamerica.org/ |title=Home |website=childfindofamerica.org}} The appearance of Missing Child photos on milk cartons was a direct result of this campaign, as was the creation of National Missing Children's Day. Still Missing was bought for the screen by movie producer Stanley R. Jaffe, who had recently won the Best Picture Oscar for Kramer vs. Kramer. Gutcheon was retained to write the screenplay. The finished film, titled Without A Trace, was released by Twentieth Century Fox in February 1983, starring Kate Nelligan, Judd Hirsch, and Stockard Channing.

Because of the similar timing of Still Missing and Without A Trace, some suggested a strained relationship between Gutcheon and the parents of famously missing child Etan Patz. The controversy was corrected in a 1982 letter to the Editor at The New York Times where Stanley K. Patz, Etan's father, said "We repeatedly stated that we had no quarrel with Beth Gutcheon and that we liked her."{{cite web|title=ETAN IS STILL MISSING |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/09/opinion/l-etan-is-still-missing-067167.html |website=The New York Times|first=Stanley|last=Patz |accessdate=February 23, 2020 |date=August 9, 1982}}

In spring 2010, Still Missing, was re-published in the UK by Persephone Books, a London-based publisher committed to reprinting "neglected classics by 20th Century (mostly women) writers".{{Cite web |title=Still Missing |url=https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/still-missing |access-date=2023-04-19 |website=Persephone Books}}

Gutcheon's other novels include bestsellers Domestic Pleasures (1991)[https://archive.today/20130125101240/http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Domestic-Pleasures-Beth-Gutcheon/?isbn=9780060934767%3FAA=books_SearchBooks_16776 Harper Collins2] published in British, French, German and Swedish editions, Saying Grace (1995),[https://archive.today/20130125125039/http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Saying-Grace-Beth-Gutcheon/?isbn=9780060927271%3FAA=books_SearchBooks_16776 Harper Collins3] Five Fortunes (1998), and More Than You Know (2000) which are all available in German, as well. More Than You Know went on to become a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121114092507/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/03/books/bk-60523/18 Los Angeles Times] Leeway Cottage (2005) became a national bestseller the same year that HarperCollins republished Gutcheon's entire backlist in uniform trade paperback editions.

Her 2008 novel Good-bye and Amen was published in hardcover and HarperPerennial trade paper back editions; the audio version was a finalist for an Audie Award for Best Recorded Novel of the Year, 2010.{{cite web |url=http://www.audiopub.org/2010%20finalists.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2010-05-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331035156/http://www.audiopub.org/2010%20finalists.pdf |archivedate=2010-03-31 }}

Her 2012 novel Gossip was released by HarperCollins on March 20, 2012.{{Cite web |title=Gossip: A Novel by Beth Gutcheon |url=http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Gossip-Beth-Gutcheon/?isbn=9780061931420?AA=index_authorIntro_16776 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125050111/http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Gossip-Beth-Gutcheon/?isbn=9780061931420%3FAA=index_authorIntro_16776 |archive-date=25 January 2013 |access-date=19 April 2023 |website=HarperCollins Publishers}} The Affliction, the sequel to Death At Breakfast (2016)'', was released by Wm/Morrow/HarperCollins in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062431998/the-affliction|title=The Affliction}}

• Novels:
• March, 2018: The Affliction, A Maggie Detweiler and Hope Babbin mystery, #2 (Wm. Morrow/HarperCollins, {{ISBN|978-0-06-243199-8}}, Wm. Morrow Trade Paperback, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-06-243200-1}}, HarperLuxe Large Print edition, {{ISBN|978-0-06-279140-5}}, Harper Audio Unabridged Audio Book, 2016, {{ISBN|978-0-06-244549-0}})
• 2016: Death At Breakfast, A Maggie Detweiler and Hope Babbin mystery, #1 (Wm. Morrow/HarperCollins, {{ISBN|978-0-06-243196-7}}, Wm. Morrow Trade Paperback, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-06-243197-4}}, HarperLuxe Large Print edition, {{ISBN|978-0-06-246633-4}}, Harper Audio Unabridged Audio Book, 2016, {{ISBN|978-0-06-244548-3}})
• 2012: Gossip (Wm. Morrow/HarperCollins, {{ISBN|978-0-06-193142-0}}, HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-06-193143-7}})
• 2008: Good-bye and Amen (Wm. Morrow/HarperCollins, {{ISBN|978-0-06-053907-8}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-06-053908-5}}; Tantor Media Unabridged audio, 2008)
• 2005: Leeway Cottage (Wm. Morrow/HarperCollins {{ISBN|0-06-053905-4}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2006, {{ISBN|0-06-053906-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-06-053906-1}}; Chivers Sound Library/AudioGo Unabridged Audio Book, 2005; Harper Audio Abridged Audio Book, 2005)
• 2000: More Than You Know (Wm. Morrow/HarperCollins, {{ISBN|0-688-17403-5}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2001, {{ISBN|0-06-095935-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-06-095935-7}}; Wheeler Large Print edition, 2001; Recorded Books Unabridged Audio Book, 2001; German Edition, 2005)
• 1998: Five Fortunes (Cliff Street Books, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-06-017679-2}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 1999, {{ISBN|0-06-092995-2}}; Harper Perennial Trade Paperback, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-06-092995-4}}; German Edition, 2005)
• 1995: Saying Grace (HarperCollins, 1995, {{ISBN|0-06-017678-4}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 1996, {{ISBN|0-06-092727-5}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-06-092727-1}}; German Edition, 2005)
• 1991: Domestic Pleasures (Villard, {{ISBN|0-394-54579-6}}; St. Martin's Press Mass Market Paperback, 1992, {{ISBN|0-312-92861-0}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2001, {{ISBN|0-06-093476-X}}, HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-06-093476-7}}; French, Swedish and German editions; New German edition, 2005)
• 1981: Still Missing (G. P. Putnam, {{ISBN|0-399-12578-7}}; Dell Mass Market Paperback, 1982, {{ISBN|0-440-17864-9}}; British edition, French hardcover, trade paperback and mass market paperback editions in 1982, plus a hardcover movie tie-in edition. Also German, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Brazilian, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and Spanish editions, plus a pirated translation in Cantonese, a large print edition, and a recording for the blind; mass market paperback movie tie-in edition 1983 as Without a Trace, Dell, {{ISBN|0-440-19496-2}}; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback 2005, {{ISBN|0-06-097703-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-06-097703-0}}; New German edition 2005; New British publication by Persephone Books, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-903155-78-3}})
• 1979: The New Girls (G. P. Putnam, {{ISBN|0-399-12362-8}}; Avon Mass Market Paperback, 1981, {{ISBN|0-380-50831-1}}; Sphere British Edition Paperback, 1982; HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 1996, {{ISBN|0-06-097702-7}}; New HarperPerennial Trade Paperback Edition, 2005, {{ISBN|0-06-097702-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-06-097702-3}}; German edition 2005)
• Quilt books:
• 1976: The Quilt Design Workbook with Jeffrey Gutcheon (Rawson Associates Hardcover, {{ISBN|0-89256-004-5}}; Alchemy Press Trade Paperback, 1978, {{ISBN|0-89256-004-5}})
• 1973: The Perfect Patchwork Primer (David McKay Company, {{ISBN|0-679-50385-4}}; Penguin Books Trade paperback, 1981, {{ISBN|0-14-046212-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-14-046212-8}})

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120107005550/http://porters.org/default.aspx Miss Porter's School for Girls]
• [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9902E6D9103BF937A35751C0A965948260 New York Times Review of Without a Trace, 1983]
• [http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/still-missing.html Still Missing] at Persephone Books
• [http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/beth-gutcheon/ Author Profile] at Persephone Books

• [http://www.bethgutcheon.com/ Beth Gutcheon Official Website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121023112909/http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/16776/Beth_Gutcheon/index.aspx HarperCollins]

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Category:1945 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American novelists

Category:20th-century American screenwriters

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Miss Porter's School alumni