Book Series Guide

Rebecca Makkai

Author guide

Rebecca Makkai Books in Order

Rebecca Makkai is an American novelist and short-story writer whose work includes literary, historical, and mystery fiction. She teaches graduate fiction writing at Middlebury College, Northwestern University, and the Bennington Writing Seminars, and is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. Her novel The Great Believers was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award and won the ALA Carnegie Medal and Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

literary fictionhistorical fictionmysteryshort stories

Catalog record updated .

Rebecca Makkai's Newest Book

Cover of I Have Some Questions for You

I Have Some Questions for You

novel · First published 2023

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie. But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case. In I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of The Borrower

The Borrower

Debut novel and earliest entry point into Makkai's published fiction.

Cover of Music for Wartime

Music for Wartime

Standalone entry point to her short fiction.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (4)
  1. The Borrower

    novel · 2011

    The first novel from the acclaimed author of The Great Believers "Rarely is a first novel as smart and engaging and learned and funny and moving as The Borrower." —Richard Russo, author of Pulitzer Prize–winning Empire Falls Lucy Hull, a…

  2. The Hundred-Year House

    novel · 2014

    "A dazzlingly original new novel from the acclaimed author of The Borrower. Now, Makkai returns with an ingenious novel set on an historic estate that once housed an arts colony. Doug, the husband of the estate's heir, desperately needs…

  3. The Great Believers

    novel · 2018

    A dazzling novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup,…

  4. I Have Some Questions for You

    novel · 2023

    A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former…

Short fiction (1)
  1. Music for Wartime

    short-story collection · 2015

    Presents a collection of wide-ranging, evocative short stories, including several inspired by the author's family history or featuring protagonists whose lives are shaped by irony.

Frequently asked questions about Rebecca Makkai

Who is Rebecca Makkai?

Rebecca Makkai is an American novelist and short-story writer based in the Chicago area. She teaches graduate fiction writing at Middlebury College, Northwestern University, and the Bennington Writing Seminars, and serves as Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

Source: rebeccamakkai.com (opens in a new tab)

What did Rebecca Makkai do before becoming a published author?

Makkai worked as an elementary Montessori teacher for 12 years before her first book was published. She holds an MA in Literature from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English.

Source: rebeccamakkai.com (opens in a new tab)

What influenced Rebecca Makkai’s writing of The Great Believers?

Research into the underdocumented history of Chicago’s AIDS crisis transformed what began as a smaller subplot into the novel’s central story. Makkai consulted archives at the Harold Washington Library, including back issues of the Windy City Times.

Source: chicagomag.com (opens in a new tab)

What major awards has Rebecca Makkai won?

The Great Believers won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among other honors. It was also a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sources: ala.org (opens in a new tab)rebeccamakkai.com (opens in a new tab)nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)pulitzer.org (opens in a new tab)

How does Rebecca Makkai support other writers?

Alongside teaching graduate fiction, Makkai supports writers through StoryStudio Chicago, where she is Artistic Director. She created StoryStudio’s Novel in a Year program in 2012 to build writing community, teach craft and publishing skills, and help writers bring books into the world.

Sources: rebeccamakkai.com (opens in a new tab)storystudiochicago.org (opens in a new tab)