Compelling new love story by Chestnut Hill native

Posted 7/15/16

“The Best of Families,” by Chestnut Hill native Harry Groome.[/caption] by Len Lear One of the great pleasures of life is a good book that tells a story so compelling that when you put the book …

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Compelling new love story by Chestnut Hill native

Posted
“The Best of Families,” by Chestnut Hill native Harry Groome. “The Best of Families,” by Chestnut Hill native Harry Groome.[/caption]

by Len Lear

One of the great pleasures of life is a good book that tells a story so compelling that when you put the book down, you can’t wait to pick it up again. For me, “The Best of Families,” by Chestnut Hill native Harry Groome, just published by The Connelly Press in Villanova, is such a book. I read it in three days, something I have not done in decades.

What makes the story even more remarkable is that the author, now 79, did not start writing seriously until the age of 70, when his first book, “Wing Walking,” a novel (based on true events), was published. It portrayed the emotional and personal side of the large corporate players in the pharmaceutical industry.

Groome grew up in Chestnut Hill and attended Chestnut Hill Academy until 1955 (it only went up to 8th grade at the time), after which he was sent to the Pomfret School, a small, elite boarding school in Connecticut. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 with a degree in English, he worked for corporate pharmaceutical companies for more than 30 years, starting out as a writer and advancing eventually to chairman of SmithKline Beecham Consumer HealthCare.

His dad, also named Harry, was an advertising executive and civic leader. His mom Sarah taught dancing and flower arranging. He has a sister, Peggy Cooke, and a brother, Clark, who writes theater reviews for the Local.

Growing up in Chestnut Hill, Harry said he remembers “the intimacy of the community, the friendly shop keepers and the tolerant Philadelphia police in their red cars.”

When Harry was 52 and was facing retirement eight years into the future because his employer, SmithKline, required employees to retire at 60, a friend suggested that he start writing novels. As a result, Groome enrolled in a master’s degree writing program at Vermont College shortly after his retirement at 59.

It wasn’t until 11 years later that Groome’s first novel, “Wing Walking,” was published, followed by “Thirty Below” and the award-winning Stieg Larsson parody, “The Girl Who Fished with a Worm.” A finalist for the William Faulkner Short Story Awards and nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Harry's short stories, poems and articles have also appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies including Gray's Sporting Journal, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Descant, Field & Stream and Detroit Magazine.

His latest work, “The Best of Families,” which blew me away with its believable razor-sharp dialogue and compelling plot, tells the story of Philadelphia socialite Francis Hopkinson Delafield, who falls in love with a French Canadian girl, only to have her disappear shortly after their marriage. (The beginning and ending of the book take place in Chestnut Hill.)

Groome, who now divides his time between Villanova and the Adirondack Mountains, was asked to compare his time in the corporate world with his subsequent career as a full-time writer. “One paid a lot better!” he said.

Groome told us he is obsessed with writing, spending about three hours at the computer keyboard on a typical day. “I used to work for up to five hours, but now I don’t have the stamina or the ability to concentrate for much more than three.”

The Hill native is already at work on his next novel, which will tell the story of the kidnapping of an American billionaire on the Kola Peninsula in Russia in September, 1991, when the country was in turmoil.

Who are Groome’s own favorite writers and why? “All the usual suspects but especially Charles Dickens, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, Richard Ford and William Trevor because they’re brilliant storytellers.”

When asked what was the hardest thing Groome ever had to do, he replied, “I ain’t saying.”

What is the best advice he ever received? “When we first moved to Mexico City in the late 1970s, a seasoned expatriate took me aside and told me that things weren’t better or worse in Mexico than they were in the U.S.; they were just different. While it may not be the best advice I’ve ever received, it certainly served me well while I was in Mexico. The advice Fran receives in ‘The Best of Families’ of occasionally giving people an intentional pass to win the game of life would also rank right near the top of the list.”

What does the prolific author like to do in his spare time? “Fish for salmon; read; go to the movies with (his wife) Lyn; hike; spend time with my dogs; have dinner and travel with Lyn.”

What is Groome’s most impressive characteristic? “God only knows, and she isn’t very forthcoming on that topic.”

If he could meet and spend time with anyone on earth, who would it be? “The person who came up with the concept of the hot shower.”

More information at www.harrygroome.com or www.amazon.com/Harry-Groome/e/B002LUT8SM.

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