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 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.

Visit Claire's Blog for her musings on writing, art, 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. The new PS edition of Come Back (Harper Perennial 2008) is now in bookstores and at Target. A special new section details how we came to write the book, 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.” Having been to hell and back together, we decided not to go so far south this year. Instead we headed west and kept going – on an amazing mother/daughter journey that has taken us to China, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic and, voila, we’re now in France, gaining weight and working on our next book. You can visit Claire's blog, www.clairedujour.com, for some photos and updates, or 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. You can also find great book club meeting ideas at Target’s Bookmarked website. Subscribe to learn about upcoming events and our new book. We will not share your e-mail address or information with anyone for any reason. Highlights from 2007 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. Bill O'Reilly interviewed us and discussed the cost of child abuse. We were on the Montel Williams Show on 2/15, which re-aired this summer. An update with Mia aired on July 27th.

		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 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. Visit Claire's Blog for her musings on writing, art, food...