Welcome from Claire & Mia

Mia Fontaine
Following her “journey to hell and back,” Mia returned home and went on to receive a scholarship to a top East Coast university. When her interest in the nuances of ancient Greek pottery waned a few semesters later, she changed her Classics major and in 2004 received her B.A. in English, with a minor in French.

In between Tolstoy and Twain, Mia worked with the Special Olympics, the Smithsonian Institute, and the National Geographic Society. Near the end of her senior year, Mia was about to accept a job offer from National Geographic when her memoir found a publisher. Over the next year and a half, Mia and her mother wrote Come Back, after which Mia began working in the publishing industry, where she is now a senior publicist.

In addition to public speaking with Claire, Mia is an inspiring motivational speaker for college and high school students. Her op-ed for the New York Times was featured in their Sunday edition, and picked up by the International Herald Tribune. Click here to read.

Her favorite hobbies are travel, sculpture, history, literature, and eating her mother’s food.

Check out Mia's myspace page!

Claire Fontaine
Claire Fontaine worked as a screenwriter with award-winning directors and producers for several years until she came home one cold January night to find her daughter, Mia, missing. Her life changed in an instant, personally and professionally.

After she and Mia healed their once-shattered relationship, Claire turned her focus to sharing what they learned from their experience. Three years later, Come Back was published. She and Mia are popular public speakers, sharing their story as well as addressing topics such as triumph over adversity, the mother/daughter relationship and substance abuse. Claire speaks individually on the writing process and memoir writing.

Claire has degrees in design, art history and film. When not writing at home, she can be found working in libraries, cafes and park benches across Europe. She looks forward to returning to fiction in both screenplays and novels that take place where history, science, art and love intersect. Aside from writing and reading, her great passions are travel, history, art and food.


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	Thank you for visiting our website! What an amazing journey this has been! What we learned forever changed the way we see ourselves and how we live our lives. We hope our memoir allows others to see what's possible in their own lives. Our New Book We're excited to share that we're currently at work on a second memoir! At twenty-five and fifty-one, we found ourselves at turning points in our lives. Last year we took six months to traverse the globe, using travel as a way to grow and gain insight into ourselves, the world and to explore the changing dynamic between mother and adult daughter. Having been to hell and back together, we decided not to go so far south this time. Instead we headed west and kept going, on an amazing journey that has taken us to China, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic and finally France, where we spent four months in the midieval town of Avignon living (with varying degrees of success) as locals. Subscribe to be notified when the book will be in stores, receive periodic updates and learn about upcoming signings and events. We will not share your e-mail address or information with anyone for any reason. The new P.S. edition of Come Back (Harper Perennial 2008) is now in bookstores and at Target. A new section details how we came to write the Come Back, what it was like working together, what the response has been, and additional background information. You’ll also find copies of many of the letters you read in Come Back, written while Mia was "locked away.” Click here to browse inside the new P.S. edition. You can visit us on our author pages on the HarperCollins website - Claire's page \| Mia's page Please see our events page for recent and future speaking engagements. We speak both as a team and individually. For booking, please visit our contact page. Book Clubs: You can find a Reading Guide with questions for discussion on the HarperCollins website deas at Target’s Bookmarked website. If you'd like us to join your book club by speakerphone, contact us at authors@claireandmia.com Each season, Target's literary experts select what they consider “the one book you must read” for their Club Pick. Come Back was the Winter 2007 Bookmarked Club Pick at Target®! US Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona presented us with the Dr. Richard Carmona Doorway of Hope Award from HomeBaseYouth Services, for work that inspires youth to leave the streets. The event raised over $900,000 for homeless youth in Arizona. We've been interviewed on Good Morning America, Bill O'Reilly, Montel Williams, local TV, radio, print and popular blogs.

		Mia Fontaine Following her “journey to hell and back,” Mia returned home and went on to receive a scholarship to a top East Coast university. When her interest in the nuances of ancient Greek pottery waned a few semesters later, she changed her Classics major and in 2004 received her B.A. in English, with a minor in French. In between Tolstoy and Twain, Mia worked with the Special Olympics, the Smithsonian Institute, and the National Geographic Society. Near the end of her senior year, Mia was about to accept a job offer from National Geographic when her memoir found a publisher. Over the next year and a half, Mia and her mother wrote Come Back, after which Mia began working in the publishing industry, where she is now a senior publicist. In addition to public speaking with Claire, Mia is an inspiring motivational speaker for college and high school students. Her op-ed for the New York Times was featured in their Sunday edition, and picked up by the International Herald Tribune. Click here to read. Her favorite hobbies are travel, sculpture, history, literature, and eating her mother’s food. Check out Mia's myspace page! Claire Fontaine Claire Fontaine worked as a screenwriter with award-winning directors and producers for several years until she came home one cold January night to find her daughter, Mia, missing. Her life changed in an instant, personally and professionally. After she and Mia healed their once-shattered relationship, Claire turned her focus to sharing what they learned from their experience. Three years later, Come Back was published. She and Mia are popular public speakers, sharing their story as well as addressing topics such as triumph over adversity, the mother/daughter relationship and substance abuse. Claire speaks individually on the writing process and memoir writing. Claire has degrees in design, art history and film. When not writing at home, she can be found working in libraries, cafes and park benches across Europe. She looks forward to returning to fiction in both screenplays and novels that take place where history, science, art and love intersect. Aside from writing and reading, her great passions are travel, history, art and food.