09/25/2026
When the Bellingham-based writer Becky Mandelbaum is in the thick of developing a story, her characters are always with her.
They came with her to a yoga class when she was in the midst of revising her latest novel, after days of reading and writing about them morning to night. She compares it to bingeing a TV show, where “the feeling of the show is in you” even when you’re no longer watching — “a cloudy infusion of it in your brain.”
Mandelbaum, 35, is awaiting the June 2027 release of her third book, “Homewrecker.” In the novel, a woman finds herself in a ghost story after accepting an ex-boyfriend’s offer to move in with him and his new fiancee. Respected names in the literary world, including Yiyun Li, Pam Houston and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, have praised the book.
In Becky Mandelbaum’s third book, “Homewrecker,” a woman finds herself in a ghost story after accepting an ex-boyfriend’s offer to move in with him and his new fiancee.
Becky Mandelbaum on how fiction unfolds. Her upcoming book, 'Homewrecker,' bodes well for young career
