Blackwell’s first novel, Hunger, was the inspiration for the song “When the War Came” by the Decemberists. She is currently working on a novel set at a wellness spa and centered on a mysterious figure who has branded himself a “temporal healer.” Spa explores contemporary American relationships with time and money. She plans a third novel set in the South — this time in the restaurant industry in New Orleans in the nineteenth century. The new book will center on a mystery illness and a messianic figure who called “Yellow Jack.”

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