New Canaan resident and best-selling author Wendy Walker
After spending her youth dreaming of competing on Olympic ice, Fairfield County resident Wendy Walker never imagined she would one day become an author publishing her twelfth novel. “I never thought I’d be a writer. When I left ice skating,
I was very intent on doing something with more stability,” Walker says. She began her professional career as a financial analyst before returning to school to earn a law degree.
After stepping away from the workforce to raise her children, Walker found herself in the suburbs as a stay-at-home mom looking for a career-focused pursuit she could manage from home. “I’d always loved telling stories—writing about experiences and sharing them with other people,” she says. That passion led her to wonder whether she might write a novel.
“I initially thought maybe I would write a legal thriller, because so many lawyers had made that leap,” she adds.
Wendy Walker’s new book
PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF
Walker quickly learned just how many skills are required to write a book. “It’s deceptively difficult and even writing a simple scene that you have imagined perfectly in your mind doesn’t always translate onto the page the way that you think it will,” she says.
Her first two novels, released in 2008 and 2009, did not achieve the success she had hoped for, and she soon returned to practicing family law. During that time, she became increasingly interested in child psychology and childhood trauma, topics that frequently surfaced in high-conflict divorce cases. She was also drawn to the lasting impact of early experiences, reflecting on her own upbringing in the intensely competitive world of figure skating.
A desire to spend more time with her children and a continued passion to translate her real-life experiences into fiction, Walker decided to give writing another go. She sought out an agent who helped her better understand what publishers were looking for and after stepping away from law for the second time, she wrote All Is Not Forgotten.
This time, the response was extraordinary: the novel was acquired by every major publishing house, ultimately published by St. Martin’s Press in 2016 and released in 23 languages. The third time truly was the charm.
BLADE—FICTION BASED ON REALITY
Leaving home at a young teen to train at an elite skating facility, many aspects of Walker’s experience mirror that of the main character in her latest novel, Blade. While every skater’s journey is unique, a shared reality is intense sacrifice—and the proufound lonliness—that can come from living away from family at such a formative age.
“The childhood trauma that comes from the emotional isolation [of being on your own], when nobody is looking out for you or guiding you can be very difficult,” says Walker. “My parents were very far away, and it was a very lonely experience. I wanted to write about girls that were going through something similar.” In Blade, Walker channels that sense of isolation—among fellow skaters, coaches and the mothers known as “bleacher bees”—into fiction.
After her third year away from home, Walker made the decision to leave the sport. She credits advice from a former Olympic skater who encouraged her to consider her other strengths and reminded her that there was life beyond the sport. “It gave me permission to look at things objectively,” she says.
UP NEXT
Walker is currently wrapping up another thriller scheduled for release next year. The novel centers on a love story between two teens—on efrom the “other side of the tracks” in a affluent suburban town—that ultimately ends in tragedy and murder.
Walker is also busy writing and executive producing original content for Audible. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her grown children, loved ones and her writing community tribe. Binging a good series, walking on the beach and New York Times puzzles are also at the top of her list.