Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Colleen Hubbard Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Colleen Hubbard
Photo: Amaal Said

Colleen Hubbard

Colleen Hubbard Biography

A native of New England, Colleen Hubbard now lives in the U.K. with her family. She wrote her debut novel, Housebreaking, while on maternity leave from her job with the NHS. She graduated from the University of East Anglia's MA program in creative writing, where she earned the Head of School Prize with a distinction.

Colleen Hubbard's website

This bio was last updated on 04/03/2022. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Interview

A conversation with Colleen Hubbard.

Tell us about Housebreaking.

Housebreaking is contemporary literary fiction centered on a stubborn twenty-four-year-old woman who deals with a long-simmering family feud by dismantling her house and moving it, alone and by hand, across a frozen pond during a harsh New England winter. The novel will appeal to readers who like spare, stylish prose as well as eccentric and compelling characters—think Elizabeth Strout crossed with Ottessa Moshfegh.

What inspired the initial idea for your debut?

I read a Bill Bryson book about Shakespeare's life. In the book, Bryson describes Shakespeare's theatre troupe moving their entire theatre building over the frozen Thames. I thought the image—of moving a building over ice—was fascinating. I kept thinking about how it would work on a domestic scale, that is, moving a house over ice. Gradually the characters came together, starting with Del. I needed someone who was determined and willing to live on the fringes of society.

Also, I have a longtime interest in unlikely and very questionable passion projects. Several years ago, I wrote an article for a magazine about Dennis Severs, a gay American Anglophile who bought a dilapidated eighteenth-century house in Spitalfields in ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Books by this Author

Books by Colleen Hubbard at BookBrowse
Housebreaking jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Colleen Hubbard but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Meg Howrey

    Meg Howrey

    Meg Howrey is a former professional ballet dancer and actress. She is the author of the novels The Wanderers, The Cranes Dance, and Blind Sight, and a coauthor of the bestselling novel City of Dark Magic and of City of Lost ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Housebreaking

    Try:
    They're Going to Love You
    by Meg Howrey

  • Nicole Krauss

    Nicole Krauss

    Nicole Krauss is the author of the international bestsellers, Forest Dark, Great House, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Orange Prize, and The History of Love, which won the Saroyan Prize for International ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Housebreaking

    Try:
    Great House
    by Nicole Krauss

We recommend 5 similar authors

View all 5 Read-Alikes

Non-members can see 2 results. Become a member
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.