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Alison Larkin doesn't need to be seen to draw attention when she walks into a room, or in this case a theater. Her laughter and positive energy preceded her as the acclaimed British comedian, voice-over artist, classical actress and now author arrived at the Bickford Theatre earlier this week. Larkin, who lives in Morristown, will kick off a national book tour for her novel "The English American" today at the Bickford Theatre in Morris Township. She will appear on stage in conversation with the theater's artistic director, Eric Hafen. The performance will include readings from the novel and a question-and-answer session. Those who attend will receive a signed copy of the book, which is to be published on Tuesday by Simon & Schuster. Three years ago, Larkin sold out the Bickford with her self-written one-woman show, also called "The English American." Both the show and the novel were inspired by her own life. Born in America, Larkin was adopted by a British family and raised in London and Africa. She later decided to search for her birth mother and found her in Tennessee. "And as a result of that I became a comedian," she said. Redbook magazine has named the novel its book of the month. Vogue called it one of the most powerful books of the year. As if those posh magazine reviews weren't enough, Hafen called Larkin a powerful superstar. He said he has never appeared in conversation with an author on stage before. Larkin said the urge to pen a novel was spontaneous. "I wanted to see if I could write a certain kind of book," she said, "and I realized that if it doesn't hurt to write it down, it won't be funny, and that if a writer can make you laugh, then he/she can also make you cry." After she performed "The English American" at the Bickford for the first time, she rushed home to begin writing the novel. "To my astonishment, it was so exciting, the characters took over," she said. "I was able to get to the emotional truth through my heroine. I was able to explain the essential differences between The English and The Americans." Hafen said he's already read the novel twice. "I read it for the second time during my jury duty, and it was such a delightful romantic roller coaster ride of four hours," he said. "I love the fabulous romantic hook at the end." Larkin loathes a routine schedule and didn't love working in classical theater productions where she would have to recite the same lines nightly. "What I was excited about were my standup comedy routines, which I'd perform at night after I was finished up acting in the other productions," she said. "This is what led me to my interest in writing." A mother of two small children, she said that she wants to concentrate on writing novels. "I'm not the Hollywood type," she said. "I'm not going to star in the film version of my book if it that happens. I like having time at night to read stories to my kids." She said she wants people to know what it's like to grow up adopted and happy. "That is the experience that I had and I want to share it with the world." She wrote her one-woman show for the same reason, "I want people to know that the parents who raised me are my real parents," she said. Larkin said that many of her real life experiences inspired her. She said the main character of her novel, Pippa, is to some degree like her. "I don't do housework," she said. "Pippa is gifted, impulsive, and creative, and untidy." Hafen said Pippa is a lot like Larkin. "They both contain unbridled enthusiasm to live life their way. For Larkin, if that meant coming to America to find out who her birth parents were, and if that meant flying back to America, or if it meant that she was searching for romance with a certain type of man -- I see all of that in Pippa and Alison." |
