Oh, hello!
Tessa Fontaine is the author of The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts, and The Red Grove, a novel, plus a handful of stories and a boatload of essays.
If you like sideshows or mycorrhizal networks or fire-eating or cannibalism or good old-fashioned love stories, you’re in the right place.
Tessa’s Books
THE RED GROVE
What kind of world might we have, who might we become, if everyone were truly safe?
The Red Grove is a special place, protected, perhaps by the majestic old-growth redwood trees. But when her mother goes missing in the Red Grove, a place where no woman can be harmed, Luce must uncover the secrets beneath her sacred community.
PRAISE FOR THE RED GROVE
“A devastating literary thriller.”
People Magazine
“The Red Grove will ‘tug at your heartstrings.’”
Publisher’s Weekly
“A cleverly crafted double mystery.”
Kirkus
THE ELECTRIC WOMAN
Tessa Fontaine’s astonishing memoir of pushing past fear, The Electric Woman, follows the author on a life-affirming journey of loss and self-discovery—through her time on the road with the last traveling American sideshow and her relationship with an adventurous, spirited mother.
A story for anyone who has ever imagined running away with the circus, wanted to be someone else, or wanted a loved one to live forever, The Electric Woman is ultimately about death-defying acts of all kinds, especially that ever constant: good old-fashioned unconditional love.
PRAISE FOR THE ELECTRIC WOMAN
“Astounding, amazing, inspiring and a little bit terrifying…”
Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“An assured debut that doesn’t shy away from the task of holding the ordinary and otherworldly in its hand, at once.”
Rachel Khong, The New York Times Book Review
“Marvellous… [Fontaine’s] account of her coming-of-age summer on the road is filled with small miracles.”
BBC
MEET TESSA
Tessa Fontaine is the author of two books: The Electric Woman: a Memoir in Death Defying Acts (FSG 2018) and the novel The Red Grove (FSG 2024). For all the official goodies on those books, check out the “About” page and individual book pages.
For now, she’d like you to know she lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her daughter, goofy dog and sassy cat, enjoys long hikes, tall drinks, short shorts, and tiny pigs. Tessa founded and runs the Accountability Workshops with writer and pal Annie Hartnett, and she also teaches in Warren Wilson’s MFA program. Despite having a big garden, she has never successfully grown a melon.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND HERE…
The Strange, True Stuff
How sword swallowing and fire eating really work. Living in the back of a semi-truck inside carnival fairgrounds. A phone booth in Japan built for calling the dead. Spooky twin stuff. A smattering of cannibalism. Every story is rooted in deep research and the kind of real-world detail you’ll want to share at dinner.
The Natural & Unnatural
Exploring the natural world as a character along with all the incredible facts on redwood ecosystems. And also infertility and our bananas notion of what is “natural.” Our historical obsession with and utility of women’s hair. Performers pushing the body to its limits. Adventuring to wild places on the page.
Mothers & Daughters
Strained relationships. Caring for a very sick parent after a stroke. Forest adventures in an off-roading wheelchair. And what happens when that parent gets taken to Italy, with no intention of coming back. Exploring the sometimes fraught love and loss between mother and daughter through mystery and memoir.
