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Margo Littell has read 36 of 50 books.

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Margo Orlando Littell

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

October 29

Website

http://www.margoorlandolittell.com

Twitter

margolittell

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

June 2007

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I grew up in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town where crumbling mansions are all that remain of the coal-and-coke wealth from the early twentieth century, when the town led the United States in millionaires per capita. Now, nearly half the population lives at or below the poverty level, and haunting, once-splendid buildings in the old downtown can be purchased for a song. After fifteen years of living in New York City, Barcelona, and Northern California, I've settled down in northern New Jersey with my husband and two little girls. Still, southwestern Pennsylvania never seems too far away. Though I haven’t lived there since I was eighteen, it’s the place that inspires almost all my fiction.

I started writing obsessively as soon as I lea I grew up in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town where crumbling mansions are all that remain of the coal-and-coke wealth from the early twentieth century, when the town led the United States in millionaires per capita. Now, nearly half the population lives at or below the poverty level, and haunting, once-splendid buildings in the old downtown can be purchased for a song. After fifteen years of living in New York City, Barcelona, and Northern California, I've settled down in northern New Jersey with my husband and two little girls. Still, southwestern Pennsylvania never seems too far away. Though I haven’t lived there since I was eighteen, it’s the place that inspires almost all my fiction.

I started writing obsessively as soon as I learned to write, in a Cabbage Patch diary I filled with critical minutia like “We get to have pop at Grandma’s.” Thousands of journal pages followed, and then, eventually, poetry. I was serious about my efforts, and in high school I attended the Pennsylvania School for the Arts. It’s funny how bits from the far past sometimes resurface: a poem I heard during my poetry classes that summer--over twenty years ago now--wound up becoming the epigraph of Each Vagabond By Name.

I began writing short stories at the University of Dayton and went on to receive an MFA from Columbia, where I taught undergraduate composition and wrote a collection of novellas. After a few years working as an editor in New York City, I sold nearly everything I owned, quit my job, and followed my boyfriend to Spain--and then to California and then back to Brooklyn. Somewhere in all that, we got married and had kids. Life took over for a while, freelance editing and professional resume writing and house buying and child rearing, but in 2011 I turned one of my novellas into a full-length novel that would become Each Vagabond By Name.

I’m driven to write about characters who are rooted to a place and who, even if they succeed at leaving, feel pulled toward home for one reason or another. I find inspiration in odd rummage-sale finds, visits to my hometown, and newspaper articles that give a glimpse of quiet struggles and preoccupations that are just to the side of the expected thing. My home--the Boo Radley house on an otherwise beautiful tree-lined street--is filled with decommissioned library card catalogs and oil portraits of strangers. ...more

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Margo Orlando Littell’s books

Average rating: 4.08 · 471 ratings · 104 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Each Vagabond By Name 4.01 avg rating — 316 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Distance from Four Points 4.23 avg rating — 155 ratings — published 2020 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Margo Orlando Littell's Blog

An Extraordinary Fall

It’s October, my favorite month, the month that always puts me straight back into the world of Each Vagabond by Name. “It was an ordinary fall until the gypsies came,” that novel begins. Of course, fall 2020 is anything but ordinary. And amid so much global unrest and turmoil, I undertook a monumental change last month and moved back to Pennsylvania, where I haven’t lived since I was ei

Margo is Currently Reading

Margo Littell is currently reading

El Dorado Drive

by Megan Abbott (Goodreads Author)

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Aug 25, 2025 11:27AM

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Margo Littell entered a giveaway The Doorman by Chris Pavone (Goodreads Author) 7 copies available, ends on September 08, 2025 Enter to win »
Aug 29, 2025 03:27AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Doorman by Chris Pavone. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Doorman by Chris Pavone <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Margo Littell rated a book really liked it We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I listened to this in bits and pieces for a good part of the summer, mostly as I drove my daughter half an hour to crew practice every day at 5:30am, and this spooky, empty time on the road was the perfect backdrop for this eerie book. I'll say that ...more
Aug 25, 2025 11:29AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Margo Littell rated a book it was amazing The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Wrenching, captivating, horrifying.
Aug 25, 2025 11:27AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Margo Littell started reading El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 25, 2025 11:27AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Margo Littell rated a book it was amazing The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Wrenching, captivating, horrifying.
Aug 25, 2025 11:26AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Margo Littell entered a giveaway Heart the Lover by Lily King (Goodreads Author) 25 copies available, ends on September 09, 2025 Enter to win »
Aug 25, 2025 11:18AM · like · see giveaway
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Margo Littell rated a book it was amazing The Island by Elin Hilderbrand (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Listened to this one. Perfect summer escape.
Aug 21, 2025 06:58AM · like · see review
Margo Littell is currently reading The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 21, 2025 06:58AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Margo’s Year In Books

Margo Orlando Littell’s Followers (107)

Margo’s Bookshelves

Margo’s Friends (129)

2025 Reading Challenge

Margo Orlando Littell

Goodreads Author

Learn more
Ask the Author

Combine Editions
Margo Orlando Littell’s books

51 posts
Margo Orlando Littell's Blog

An Extraordinary Fall

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Margo Orlando Littell’s Followers (107)

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