Glendy Vanderah Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Glendy Vanderah is a literary fiction author from Chicago Illinois who made her name with her debut novel “Where the Forest Meets the Stars” that she published in 2019. She is the daughter of two public school teachers, which perhaps explains why she loved reading right from childhood. Vanderah remembers that she read her first story when she was only three years old and by the time she started grade school she was writing rudimentary poetry and a novel by the fifth grade. She had always been a naturalist and hence even her first story was about the adventures of an ant named Isabel. She showed it to her teacher who was so impressed that she told the class that they would one day read a Glendy Vanderah novel. It was one of the most significant moments of her writing career as it proved the spark for a dream that she finally achieved with the critically acclaimed and bestselling title “Where the Forest Meets the Stars.”

Vanderah has asserted that as a naturalist she always felt trapped in the city. Nonetheless, she would trawl every inch of her parents’ overgrown backyard when she was not reading her animal stories. Her mother loved to plant her garden with flowers and fruits and these were let to run wild, particularly when her interest in gardening waned with worsening mental issues. As such, the garden had a lot of wildlife than most in the neighborhood and was some sort of escape for Vanderah. She could explore whole new worlds simply by turning over rocks and learned how to feed baby cottontails and squirrels from her hand. It was so fascinating that she started reading books and also conducting experiments such as setting out foods to determine what animal liked to eat what. Glendy also started visiting the public library as a child even though it was a tiny library with a small collection of books she liked to read. However, she did not care and devoured everything by E.B. White, Gerald Durrell and Joy Adamson in addition to books such as “The Yearling” and “The Secret Garden.” She got hooked into fantasy when she read “Knee Deep in Thunder” by Sheila Moon though her reading in adulthood is more eclectic. She now reads everything from nonfiction science, contemporary fiction, young adult, magical realism, science fiction fantasy, and poetry.

Glendy Vanderah had always told people that all she wanted to be is a zoologist. As such, when she went to the University of Illinois, she decided to study Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution. It was at university that she learned that her compulsion to catch salamanders and snakes was not so weird. Once she graduated from college, she got a job with the University of Illinois working as an avian biologist. But science could no longer satisfy the creative instincts she had always since she was a child when she would write poems and draw pictures. She had been writing nonfiction courses as an undergraduate while she also pursued her interests in nature photography and watercolors. She enjoyed the literature and poetry classes but most of the writing classes tended towards nonfiction which she did not particularly find interesting. Nearing age thirty, Vanderah knew she had to make a decision fast on what direction to take and decided to pursue a master’s in avian biology. She went on to work as an editor on a scientific journal and endangered bird specialist. She would later move with her husband and children to Florida where her husband had a new job at the University of Florida. With so much time on her hands given there was little biological work, she got back to writing and published her debut novel “Where the Forest Meets the Stars” in 2019.

Glendy Vanderah’s “Where the Forest Meets the Stars” is a mysterious and gorgeous debut novel teaching the values of trust and love. Joanna Teale goes back to her job researching nesting birds in the remote farmlands of Illinois soon after battling cancer and dealing with her mother’s decease. Throwing herself into her work, she is determined to prove that she can handle the hard times. But then her solitary routine is disrupted when a bruise covered and barefoot child named Ursa turns up at her cabin. The child says that she is from the stars and has come to offer witness about miracles. Jo is concerned about the child and lets her stay but then learns that she has a very complicated past. She asks Gabriel Nash her reclusive neighbor for help with the mysterious child. But what they learn leaves them perplexed as the child seems to be wiser beyond her years and is also luckier than anyone they ever knew. The three have formed an unbreakable bond but there is always an underlying tension that soon turns into danger as painful secrets are revealed.

3 Responses to “Glendy Vanderah”

1. Mary F Lueloff: 3 years ago

   I just finished Where the Forest Meets the Stars. I enjoyed this book, I was surprised at the way the story changed. I loved it. I can’t wait to read the next one.

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2. Emily Evers: 4 years ago

   I just finished The Light Through the Leaves and I think I loved it even more than her first novel. I would recommend it 100%.

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3. Iris Armos: 4 years ago

   I loved this book, Where the Forest Meets the Stars, so much and am wondering if there is a second book coming from Glendy Vanderah. Does anyone know the answer to that? Glendy? Are you out there? Please be writing your second novel. Love to you.
   Iris Armos

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