Elaine Loft, Staff Writer
Christine Murphy ‘01 has published her debut novel, Notes on Surviving the Fire (Knopf), a literary thriller about “vengeance, the insidious nature of rape culture, and ultimately, a woman’s journey to come back to herself.” The book has already received positive reviews in both The New Yorker (Briefly Noted, March 24) and the Los Angeles Times (Books, February 20).
Since graduating from Derryfield, Murphy has studied in Scotland and France and England and Nepal and California, and matriculated from St. Andrews (MA French & German), St. Anthony’s College at Oxford (MPHIL Modern South Asian Studies), and UC Santa Barbara (PhD Buddist studies). In between her academic pursuits, she backpacked across the African continent, starting in Gibraltar and ending in Egypt, spending a total of 11 months in a tent. Also, there was a year spent in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in Dharamsala, India, two years of fieldwork in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and one summer on the Siberian border with the Tsataan people.
Murphy, who now resides in Portland, Maine, appeared on News Center Maine on March 26–her self-acknowledged first television appearance. As part of her book tour, she was also interviewed by New Hampshire author Sarina Bowen at Gibson’s bookstore in Concord on February 26, in an event attended by an entourage from DS, including Head of School Andy Chappell, Kate Hurlbut Chappell ‘93, Director of Philanthropy and Engagement Anna Moskov, former librarian Betty Jipson, and Elaine Loft, staff writer.
