PRINTAuthor Alex George balances books and cases
How the literary lawyer finds time for both lives
Katy Mooney
British lawyer Alex George just finished his fifth book and is starting on his sixth.
March 31, 2011 | 12:00 a.m. CST
The sun slowly inches over the horizon as the sharp smell of coffee permeates Alex George’s home. It’s 5 a.m., and an exhausted George pours himself a cup and heads upstairs to squeeze in two hours of writing at his computer. Whether he can type 30 words or 30 pages depends on the day, but after each morning’s session, he is downtown-bound to The George Law Firm.
“In terms of hours, my commitment is being a lawyer,” George says. “It’s what I do all day. But in terms of where my passion lies, it’s writing.”
George, 41, moved from London, England to Columbia in 2003 with his wife and son; his daughter was born in the U.S. He works full-time as a lawyer but has simultaneously managed to publish four books and is in the final stages of his fifth, which will be published in February 2012.
In the mid-’90s, George, an Oxford-educated lawyer, complained that the books he was reading were rubbish. People advised him to stop complaining and just write his own.
George never imagined anything would come of it.
But something did happen. George met a literary agent at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany in 1997, and she liked his work. Named one of Britain’s top-10 “30-something” novelists by the Times of London in 1999, George has been filling pages ever since.
His first four books, Working it Out (1999), Before Your Very Eyes (2000), Love You Madly (2002) and Wonderful You (2005), which were published by HarperCollins in England, are what George describes as the male equivalent to chick lit. For his new book, George resolved to take up a different genre. “It occurred to me that I’ve done something that many people don’t get to do, which is move my entire life to another country,” George says. “I thought that might be worth writing about.”
The final product, a novel called A Good American, follows a family of immigrants who move to America from Germany in 1904 and traces the family’s generations from 1904 to present day. “It’s interesting that he is English and writing this uniquely American story,” says Amy Einhorn, George’s publisher and editor at Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam of Penguin Group. “Sometimes it takes someone who’s foreign to show us what’s special about our country.”
After six years of brief morning sessions, he and Einhorn have only recently decided on the final text for the book. “We wouldn’t bill it as a comedy, but I love the characters,” Einhorn says. “Each is like a little vignette that stays with you.”
The new book mirrors George’s own story as he and his family have become involved in the Columbia community. After meeting abroad, they came to America to be with his wife’s family. George says he is involved in more cultural activities here than he ever was in London. When he isn’t working or writing, he sinks into the enveloping sound of smooth jazz, chases after soccer balls (or what he calls footballs) at the Missouri Athletic Center or helps out at the Voluntary Action Center as president of the organization.
“He gives a lot of himself to his community, his kids and his passions,” says Cindy Mustard, executive director of the Voluntary Action Center and George’s friend.
His passion for writing has led him to embark on a sixth book before his fifth is even finished. The inspiration came from the book and movie Man on Wire, about the Frenchman who walked a high wire between New York’s Twin Towers in 1974. George says the determination of Philippe Petit was the kernel of an idea for him.
But unless Steven Spielberg wants to buy the film rights for a seven-figure price, George plans to continue practicing law and writing. “I’ll keep going,” George says. “I don’t think I could stop. It’s part of what I do and who I am.”
