Elinor Lipman. (Courtesy Photo)

Calling Elinor Lipman in her Northampton home is like phoning your best friend to share an early morning cup of coffee, only this friend is also the prolific and widely praised author of eight novels. Warm and personable, Lipman’s voice glows with an affection for her characters that seems to overflow and encompass a goodwill for all of life itself. It is a feeling that conveys itself throughout her work as well: while her novels depict serious life issues and emotions, Lipman has developed a signature style of humor in her prose that begs comparison to Jane Austen and Barbara Pym, critics say. My Latest Grievance, Lipman’s most recently published novel, embodies this lighthearted style of humor, leavened with a sharp eye for social satire. Lipman will read from the book at the library Monday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m., and then discuss the novel afterward.

Called lovable, witty, and enchanting, My Latest Grievance was greeted warmly by critics and the public when it came out in hardcover last spring. The novel is narrated by Frederica Hatch, the 16-year-old daughter of two earnest college professors more interested in saving the world than creating a conventional one for their only offspring. Raised in a campus dormitory, she is described as the “Eloise of Dewing College,” and functions as the second-rate school’s unofficial mascot. As the story unfolds, it turns out that her father is more interesting than Frederica once believed: she discovers he was briefly married to the newly installed—and very flamboyant—housemother in another nearby dorm. The chain of events that ensues is classic Lipman, according to Newsday, combining “expertly calibrated tension between the comic and the profound,” and “a deceptively simply plot that spirals into brilliantly orchestrated farce.” My Latest Grievance takes place in a small town in Massachusetts, and a pivotal point in the story revolves around an event many in Harvard will never forget: the blizzard of ’78.

Like some of her other novels, My Latest Grievance was inspired by a “what if?” question that popped up for her one day, she said. The novel is the answer to the question “What if a child didn’t find out until she was a teenager that her father had been married before?” For Lipman, answering that question meant sitting at her typewriter every day creating dialogue to move the story forward, and letting the characters evolve as they will. “William Faulkner describes it as ‘chasing after the characters with a pencil,’” she said.

Sharing those characters with the public is one of the things she loves most about her work, Lipman said, adding that hearing people describe what her books meant to them is one of the most gratifying aspects of writing. “It’s most meaningful when people who were going through a difficult time say, ‘Somebody gave me one of your books and I laughed.’” Her upcoming visit to the library won’t be her first foray into Harvard, she said: years ago, she was in a small writing group that included Kathleen Cushman, a former publisher of The Harvard Post. And Megan Wilson, her publicity manager at the Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston, is library director Mary Wilson’s daughter.

While Hollywood has beckoned for years and several of Lipman’s novels have been optioned for the screen, a long-awaited dream is about to unfold with the upcoming release of the movie adaptation of Then She Found Me. Directed by, and starring, Helen Hunt, the movie will be produced by the team that made Boys Don’t Cry. Several other novels are also in the process of being developed into movies, and Lipman was cautiously enthusiastic about this new phase of her career. The movie option for Then She Found Me was optioned a year before its publication in 1990, she explained, and the 18-year waiting process taught her that bringing a novel to the big screen is as much a lesson in patience as anything else. In typical fashion, however, she was optimistic about the final result: “Now I think that it’s possible if you just wait long enough.”

The Harvard Public Library will host Elinor Lipman Monday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Volunteers Hall.