Reading Group Guides Newsletter

September 17, 2022

Book Festivals

Fall is creeping up on us. But that also means there are a number of great book festivals on the calendar. We try to stay on top of these here, so take a peek to see if any are in your area.

In New Jersey, we are lucky enough that the Morristown Festival of Books will be taking place on Saturday, October 8th, with a special opening event featuring New York Times columnist Frank Bruni on the night of Friday, October 7th. I love this festival since it is close to home! I will be interviewing Nita Prose, the author of THE MAID, at 11am, followed by Jamie Fiore Higgins, the author of BULLY MARKET: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs, at 1:20pm. Both of these books are Bookreporter.com Bets On selections, and I am looking forward to conversations with both of them!

The festival has added a very special Closing Event at 5:15pm on the 8th, which is ticketed. The special guest for that is James Patterson, and I am happy to share that I will be interviewing him as well. Check out their website for lots more information about their programming, including their terrific KidFest programs for kids and teens.

I also have tentative plans to head to Charleston, South Carolina, for the Charleston Literary Festival the first weekend in November. You can see their festival details; they have a 10-day program here.

If you are attending a festival in your area, please let us know if you would like to report on it for us!

Our Latest Monthly Contest is Live!
Our new “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest title is HONOR by Thrity Umrigar, a Reese’s Book Club pick that releases in paperback on September 27th. I missed this book when it came out in hardcover in January, so I’m happy to be reading (and loving) it now. I’m hoping to interview Thrity, whose book THE SPACE BETWEEN US came out in 2006 and remains one of my favorite novels.

Here's the premise of HONOR: When a young Hindu woman is brutally tortured for marrying a Muslim man, and her husband murdered, Indian-American journalist Smita travels to India to cover the story of the young widow, Meena, and her attackers --- her own brothers, who feel their sister’s forbidden marriage brought unforgivable shame to the family. Returning to Mumbai for the first time in 20 years, Smita sees a country entrenched in outdated beliefs about caste, religion and patriarchy, a country where a woman can meet violence for exercising any amount of autonomy. But Smita’s harsh assessment of modern India is complicated by Mohan, a lifelong Mumbai resident with progressive ideals and a fierce love of his country who becomes her unofficial partner in her quest to bring awareness to the tragedy.

Three groups will win up to 12 paperback copies of HONOR. To enter, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday, October 12th at noon ET. In the meantime, you can click here for the discussion guide and here for our review on Bookreporter.

In our previous “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest, here are the five books mentioned most frequently as titles that our book groups read: THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY by Amor Towles, LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus, THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, THE MAID by Nita Prose, and THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK by Kim Michele Richardson. Scroll further down the newsletter to see the Top 15.

CARRIE SOTO IS BACK is the latest novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid, who tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet. Carrie Soto is a legendary tennis player who attempts a comeback against a much younger woman who has threatened her Grand Slam record. I loved the setting of the four majors, and all that happens on and off the court. Taylor was not someone who played or watched a lot of tennis before writing this book, which may be why I loved it so much and made it a Bets On pick. She wrote in a way that made me enjoy not just the plot, but also the tennis. Now I just need Taylor to write a book about golf! Be sure to take a look at the guide, our review on Bookreporter, and my Bets On commentary.

Maggie O’Farrell, who many of you know as the author of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award winner HAMNET, is back with her eagerly awaited new novel, THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT. In 1561, Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner, it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her. What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival? Click here for the guide and here for our Bookreporter review.

In the last newsletter, I expressed my excitement over the release of the aforementioned BULLY MARKET, a memoir based on Jamie Fiore Higgins’ nearly two-decade career at Goldman Sachs. The book is now in stores, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it. Jamie became one of the few women at the highest ranks of Goldman Sachs.

Spurred on by the obligation she felt to her working-class immigrant family, she rose through the ranks and saw it all: out-of-control, lavish parties flowing with never-ending drinks; affairs flouted in the office; rampant drug use; and, most pervasively, a discriminatory culture that seemed designed to hold back the few women and people of color employed at the company. You can access the guide here. Also, don’t miss our review on Bookreporter and my Bets On commentary. There is a lot here for book groups to discuss! Our Contest Coordinator, Lisa Hickman, has booked Jamie for the Reeds Book Club meeting in Stone Harbor in October. 

We also have added guides for these four books:

• THE WAYS WE HIDE: Kristina McMorris has penned this highly anticipated novel following her million-copy bestseller, SOLD ON A MONDAY. Inspired by stunning true accounts, this sweeping World War II tale is a gripping story of love and loss, the wars we fight --- on the battlefields and within ourselves --- and the courage found in unexpected places.
   
• PEOPLE PERSON: Dimple Pennington knows of her half siblings, but they’re virtually strangers. That is, until a catastrophic event brings them crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.
  
  The book is this month’s pick for Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites. On Wednesday, September 28th at 12:30pm ET, members of the S&S team will talk to Candice Carty-Williams about PEOPLE PERSON and her highly lauded debut, QUEENIE. You can RSVP by clicking here.
   
• ON THE ROOFTOP: Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s new novel is this month’s Reese’s Book Club pick. Reese says, “Set in the 1950s in San Francisco, this book centers around an incredibly talented group of singing sisters and their fierce mom, Vivian, who has big dreams of them becoming famous. An utterly original and brilliant story about learning how to mother children who have very different dreams and how to encourage them to reach for the stars.”
   
• THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN: This month’s “Good Morning America” Book Club pick, Carolyn Huynh’s debut novel is about mourning, meddling, celebrating and healing together as a family. Carolyn tells “GMA,” “If you love stories about messy women who never learn from their mistakes, this book has a cast of over 14+ Vietnamese women who are all trying to find themselves, while trying to navigate complicated family dynamics. Speaking of mess, their love lives are even messier.”

Oprah’s latest Book Club pick is THAT BIRD HAS MY WINGS by Jarvis Jay Masters, the moving memoir of a Death Row inmate who discovers Buddhism and becomes an inspirational role model for fellow inmates, guards and a growing public. Originally released in 2009, the book has now been reissued with a foreword by spiritual teacher Pema Chödrön, who has long championed Masters’ cause.

Oprah says, “Years ago, I was given a memoir by Jarvis Jay Masters. His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system, and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today.” Over the next few weeks, Oprah will discuss the book on the social media platforms of Oprah’s Book Club, followed by a one-on-one interview with Masters from San Quentin.

Jenna Bush Hager has selected SOLITO as September’s “Read with Jenna” Today Show Book Club pick. Javier Zamora tells the story of his harrowing migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine. Jenna says, “It was a beautiful book about family, those that we have and those that we make, and the little family that they made on their journey, which was almost sort of ‘Iliad’-esque. An epic journey to their loved ones, because they had no choice.” Click here for our review on Bookreporter.

For more September selections, including the Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, see our “Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks” feature here.

We hosted this month’s “Bookaccino Live” preview event on Wednesday afternoon. I talked about 22 books releasing between now and October 4th, along with 11 from November, that we wanted to get on your radar. You can watch it here and see a list of the featured titles here.

Next month’s “Bookaccino Live” preview event will take place on Wednesday, October 12th at 2pm ET. I will present titles releasing between October 11th and November 1st, in addition to a few from December, that we think will appeal to you. Click here to sign up. Those attending the live event will be asked to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading and will be eligible to win a prize.

Here's to a great book group discussion this month!

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, ReadingGroupGuides.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!

"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest: Enter to Win Up to 12 Paperback Copies of
HONOR by Thrity Umrigar for Your Group

New Guide: CARRIE SOTO IS BACK
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Bookreporter.com Bets On Title

CARRIE SOTO IS BACK by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Fiction)
By the time she retires from tennis, Carrie Soto is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed 20 Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. At 37 years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.

Click here for the discussion guide.

New Guide: THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT
by Maggie O’Farrell

THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by Maggie O'Farrell (Historical Fiction)
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.

Click here for the discussion guide.

New Guide: BULLY MARKET by Jamie Fiore Higgins
A Bookreporter.com Bets On Title

BULLY MARKET: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs by Jamie Fiore Higgins (Business & Economics/Memoir)
Jamie Fiore Higgins became one of the few women at the highest ranks of Goldman Sachs. Spurred on by the obligation she felt to her working-class immigrant family, she rose through the ranks and saw it all: out-of-control, lavish parties flowing with never-ending drinks; affairs flouted in the office; rampant drug use; and, most pervasively, a discriminatory culture that seemed designed to hold back the few women and people of color employed at the company. Despite Goldman Sachs having the right talking points and statistics, Fiore Higgins soon realized that these provided a veneer to cover up what she found to be an abusive culture. BULLY MARKET sounds the alarm on the culture of finance and corporate America, while offering clear, actionable ideas for creating a fairer workplace.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.
- Click here to read Carol's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Click here to visit Jamie Fiore Higgins' website.

Click here for the discussion guide.

New Guide: THE WAYS WE HIDE by Kristina McMorris

THE WAYS WE HIDE by Kristina McMorris (Historical Fiction)
As a little girl raised amid the hardships of Michigan's Copper Country, Fenna Vos learned to focus on her own survival. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she's the mastermind of their act. Ultimately, controlling her surroundings and eluding traps of every kind helps her keep a lingering trauma at bay. Yet for all her planning, Fenna doesn't foresee being called upon by British military intelligence. Tasked with designing escape aids to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, Fenna discovers that no mission is more treacherous than escaping one's past.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read our review on Bookreporter.com.

Click here for the discussion guide.

New Guide: PEOPLE PERSON by Candice Carty-Williams
Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites Pick
for September

PEOPLE PERSON by Candice Carty-Williams (Fiction)
Dimple Pennington knows of her half siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. She’s 30, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half siblings crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.

» PEOPLE PERSON is this month’s pick for Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites. On Wednesday, September 28th at 12:30pm ET, members of the S&S team will talk to Candice Carty-Williams about the book. Click here to sign up.

- Click here to read more about the book.

Click here for the discussion guide.

New Guide: ON THE ROOFTOP
by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Reese’s Book Club Pick for September

ON THE ROOFTOP by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (Historical Fiction)
At home they are just sisters, but on stage they are The Salvations. Ruth, Esther and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, they’ve become a bona fide girl group whose shows are the talk of the Jazz-era Fillmore. Now Vivian has scored a once-in-a-lifetime offer from a talent manager, who promises to catapult The Salvations into the national spotlight. Vivian knows this is the big break she’s been praying for. But sometime between the hours of rehearsal on their rooftop and the weekly gigs at the Champagne Supper Club, the girls have become women --- women with dreams that their mother cannot imagine.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to visit the Reese's Book Club website.

Click here for the discussion guide.

New Guide:
THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN
by Carolyn Huynh
September’s “Good Morning America” Book Club Pick

THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN by Carolyn Huynh (Fiction)
Everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knew that the Duong sisters were cursed. It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage for true love --- so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would only give birth to daughters. Oanh’s current descendant, Mai Nguyen, is divorced, estranged from her younger sisters, and has three adult daughters who are successful in their careers --- though the same can’t be said for their love lives. Desperate for guidance, Mai consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral and the birth of a son.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to see why the book is this month's "Good Morning America" Book Club pick.

Click here for the discussion guide.

Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for September

Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads, as well as the Target Book Club title and Costco's "Buyer's Pick." We also feature a number of other prominent picks, including Oprah’s Book Club, the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Reese's Book Club, Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, and Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites.

Below is a preview of September's "Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks." For the complete Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, as well as additional links pertaining to this month's selections, please click here.

Indie Next
#1 Pick: LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood
CARRIE SOTO IS BACK by Taylor Jenkins Reid
BABEL: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang
THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by Maggie O’Farrell
IF I SURVIVE YOU by Jonathan Escoffery

LibraryReads
Top Pick: THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by Maggie O’Farrell
THE AMERICAN ROOMMATE EXPERIMENT by Elena Armas
BINDLE PUNK BRUJA by Desideria Mesa
THE BULLET THAT MISSED: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman
GHOST EATERS by Clay McLeod Chapma

Target Book Club
SONGBIRDS by Christy Lefteri

Costco's "Buyer's Pick"
THE LOST GIRLS OF WILLOWBROOK by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Oprah's Book Club
THAT BIRD HAS MY WINGS: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row by Jarvis Jay Masters

Barnes & Noble Book Club
OTHER BIRDS by Sarah Addison Allen

Reese's Book Club
ON THE ROOFTOP by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club
SOLITO: A Memoir by Javier Zamora

"Good Morning America" Book Club
THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN by Carolyn Huynh

Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites
PEOPLE PERSON by Candice Carty-Williams

Our Most Popular Book Group Selections for August’s
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest

Bookreporter.com's 12th Annual
Fall Preview Contests and Feature

From left to right: Elizabeth Strout, Nicholas Sparks, Candice Carty-Williams

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

As many book and author events are still happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.

Monday, September 19th at 8pm ET: Random House Studio Sessions: Random House Studio Sessions is Random House's new event series featuring live conversations with the biggest names on your bookshelf, filmed in their studio and broadcast virtually to wherever you are. Join Nicholas Sparks as he discusses his new novel, DREAMLAND, with Allison Pataki, author of THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST.

Tuesday, September 20th at 8pm ET: Random House Studio Sessions: Elizabeth Strout will be in conversation with essayist and novelist Pico Iyer about her new novel, LUCY BY THE SEA. She will discuss returning to the beloved characters of Lucy Barton and her ex-husband, William, and why their dynamic continues to be such a rich source of inspiration.

Wednesday, September 21st at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Shelby Van Pelt about her debut novel, REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES.

Wednesday, September 21st at 8:30pm ET: Book Passage: Yiyun Li will be in conversation with Garth Greenwell about her new novel, THE BOOK OF GOOSE, a magnificent, beguiling tale winding from the postwar rural provinces to Paris, from an English boarding school, to the quiet Pennsylvania home where a woman can live without her past.

Wednesday, September 28th at 12:30pm ET: Simon & Schuster's Book Club Favorites: Candice Carty-Williams will join members of the Simon & Schuster team to discuss her new novel, PEOPLE PERSON, which is September's pick for S&S's Book Club Favorites.

Wednesday, September 28th at 6pm ET: Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe: Sarah Horowitz will talk about her newly released book, THE RED WIDOW: The Scandal that Shook Paris and the Woman Behind It All, an unforgettable true account of sex, scandal and murder.

Wednesday, September 28th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors will talk to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout about her latest work of fiction, LUCY BY THE SEA.

Thursday, September 29th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group: Carol Fitzgerald will talk to Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray about their novel, THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, which is now in paperback. Marie and Victoria also will answer questions from guests who will be "on stage," as well as from other members of the audience. If you would like to be one of our featured audience guests and ask the authors a question on camera, please send Carol an email with the subject line “Personal Librarian” by Thursday the 29th at noon ET.

"Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts

“Bookreporter Talks To” is a video and podcast series that delivers a long-form, in-depth author interview every week. For years, Carol has moderated book festivals and author events around the country. But we know that readers often do not live where they can attend an author event. Our goal is to bring these author interviews to readers, wherever they may be. Watch on video, or listen as a podcast. (The podcasts include audio excerpts.)

Here are our latest interviews:

• Bonnie Garmus (LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY) Video | Podcast
• Casey Sherman (HELLTOWN: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod)
  Video | Podcast

Other authors we've interviewed include:

• Kimberly Belle (MY DARLING HUSBAND) Video | Podcast
• Julie Clark (THE LIES I TELL) Video | Podcast
• Jane Green (SISTER STARDUST) Video | Podcast
• Jennifer Hillier (THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK) Video | Podcast
• Gilly Macmillan (THE LONG WEEKEND) Video | Podcast
• Sarah McCoy (MUSTIQUE ISLAND) Video | Podcast
• Meg Mitchell Moore (VACATIONLAND) Video | Podcast
• Allison Pataki (THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST) Video | Podcast
• Chris Pavone (TWO NIGHTS IN LISBON) Video | Podcast
• Tom Perrotta (TRACY FLICK CAN'T WIN) Video | Podcast
• Kim Michele Richardson (THE BOOK WOMAN'S DAUGHTER) Podcast
• Katie Runde (THE SHORE) Video | Podcast
• John Searles (HER LAST AFFAIR) Video | Podcast
• Brendan Slocumb (THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY) Video | Podcast
• Amanda Eyre Ward (THE LIFEGUARDS) Video | Podcast

Upcoming interviews include:

• Sally Koslow (THE REAL MRS. TOBIAS)
• Lynda Cohen Loigman (THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT)
• Scott Shepherd (SHOULD I FALL)

Click here for a complete list of our
"Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts.

Our Latest Guides

We currently are featuring the following guides on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

THE BEST IS YET TO COME by Debbie Macomber (Fiction)
When a woman alone in the world bravely chooses to open her heart, two lost souls have a new chance at belonging in this intimate novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

BULLY MARKET: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs by Jamie Fiore Higgins (Business & Economics/Memoir)
BULLY MARKET is a rare, riveting insider’s account on Wall Street --- an updated LIAR'S POKER --- where greed coupled with misogyny and discrimination enforces a culture of exclusion in the upper echelons of Goldman Sachs.

CARRIE SOTO IS BACK by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Fiction)
In this powerful novel about the cost of greatness, a legendary athlete attempts a comeback when the world considers her past her prime --- from the New York Times bestselling author of MALIBU RISING.

THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN by Carolyn Huynh (Fiction)
For fans of Jonathan Tropper, KJ Dell’Antonia and Kevin Kwan, Carolyn Huynh's debut novel follows a family of estranged Vietnamese women --- cursed to never know love or happiness --- as they reunite when a psychic makes a startling prediction.

HONOR by Thrity Umrigar (Fiction)
In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.

THE LAST WHITE MAN by Mohsin Hamid (Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of EXIT WEST comes a story of love, loss and rediscovery in a time of unsettling change.

THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT by Maggie O'Farrell (Historical Fiction)
The author of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award winner HAMNET brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.

ON THE ROOFTOP by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (Historical Fiction)
This stunning novel is about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters’ ambitions for their own lives --- set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco.

OTHER BIRDS by Sarah Addison Allen (Fiction/Magical Realism)
From the acclaimed author of GARDEN SPELLS comes an enchanting tale of lost souls, lonely strangers, secrets that shape us, and how the right flock can guide you home.

PEOPLE PERSON by Candice Carty-Williams (Fiction)
The author of the “brazenly hilarious, tell-it-like-it-is first novel” (Oprah Daily) QUEENIE returns with another witty and insightful novel about the power of family --- even when they seem like strangers.

THE WAYS WE HIDE by Kristina McMorris (Historical Fiction)
From the New York Times bestselling author of SOLD ON A MONDAY comes a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path.

WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL by Jillian Medoff (Fiction)
The acclaimed, bestselling author of THIS COULD HURT returns with her biggest, boldest novel yet --- an electrifying, twisty and deeply emotional family drama, set on Manhattan’s glittering Upper East Side, that explores the dark side of love, the limits of loyalty and the high cost of truth.

Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:

LAST GIRL GHOSTED by Lisa Unger (Psychological Thriller)
Secrets, obsession and vengeance converge in this riveting thriller about an online dating match turned deadly cat-and-mouse game.

MATRIX by Lauren Groff (Historical Fiction)
Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, MATRIX gathers currents of violence, sensuality and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith and a woman whom history moves both through and around.

OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS by Gary Shteyngart (Fiction/Humor)
Eight friends, one country house, four romances and six months in isolation. OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS is a novel about love, friendship, family and betrayal, a book that reads like a great Russian novel, or Chekhov on the Hudson.

Quick Links to Features on ReadingGroupGuides.com

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"Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts | "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books"
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