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ReadingGroupGuides.com Newsletter |
April 2012 |
Quick Links to Features on ReadingGroupGuides.com
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It’s a Great Year for Fiction |
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I am just back from a week on the Outer Banks, where, though I worked a lot more than I planned, I also read a number of wonderful books. It’s shaping up to be a fabulous year for fiction with a number of books already slated to be added to my Bookreporter.com Bets On list for 2012. I blogged about the first group of books that I read here, and a second blog with the second part of my week’s reading will be posted on Friday.
While on OBX, the timing was perfect for me to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of Duck’s Cottage Downtown in Manteo, which is located where the Manteo Booksellers used to be. Jamie Layton, one of the co-owners, is a longtime friend of ReadingGroupGuides.com. We met years ago --- and, in fact, I am trying to remember just how many --- when I stopped by a store she was managing in Duck, Duck’s Cottage. I mentioned that I owned a group of websites, and Jamie interrupted me, talking about how her favorite site for book groups was a site called ReadingGroupGuides.com.
As she went on and on about it, my older son nudged me and asked when I was going to tell her that I owned it. I did, and from there she did a stint with us as a contributing blogger on this site and also has reviewed for us on Bookreporter.com and interviewed authors. She first got the idea to open this new store in early October and called to chat with me about her ideas for it. I stopped by to see the empty space on New Year’s Eve, and thus it was really exciting to be at the ribbon cutting and see the store opened and busy on Friday night. You can see a photo of me with Jamie, Allen Lehew (owner of Duck’s Cottage in Duck) and her business partner, Paige Griffin. Love moments of book celebrating like this.
Lots of news on ReadingGroupGuides.com this month. We’re giving away 75 copies of True Sisters, which we also are featuring in a Historical Fiction Author Spotlight on Bookreporter.com. True Sisters tells the story of four women, brought together on the harrowing journey of the Martin Handcart Company from Iowa to Salt Lake City as part of the migration of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church). Through the ties of female friendships and the strength born from suffering, each one tests the boundaries of her faith and learns the real meaning of survival along the way. I read this book a few months ago and appreciated not only Sandra’s writing, but also the historic details as she is a brilliant researcher. Such a treat, and there is so much to discuss! Click here by Friday, May 4th at noon ET and fill out the form for your chance to win.
We’re also giving away 20 copies of Libby Fischer Hellmann’s A Bitter Veil. I had the pleasure of meeting Libby last September in St. Louis where we talked about the book. I happily read an early manuscript and was impressed with both the well-told story as well as a chance to learn more about the Middle East through the lens of a novel. In the story, Anna and Nouri, both studying in Chicago, fall in love despite their very different backgrounds. Anna, who has never been close to her parents, is more than happy to return with Nouri to his native Iran, to be embraced by his wealthy family. Beginning their married life together in 1978, their world is abruptly turned upside down by the overthrow of the Shah, and the rise of the Islamic Republic. What follows is a harrowing story of what happens to Anna as she finds herself alone in a city filled with hate and accusing eyes. Click here by Friday, May 4th at noon ET and fill out the form for your chance to win.
One of our new Book Group Spotlight interviews is with Jane Blackledge, whose book club, the North Wales Area Library Book Club, read Night Road along with their Young Adult Book Club. In the interview, Jayne talks about how the discussion went and what it was like to hear the opinions of the young adults versus the adults.
And the Kristin Hannah fans in our audience will be happy to hear that 1492 Films, which most recently produced the Oscar-nominated The Help, has acquired rights to Kristin’s #1 New York Times bestseller Home Front with director Chris Columbus attached to direct. As Columbus noted in Deadline.com, “I was blown away by this book, I simply could not put it down. It told the story about the cost of war from a completely unique perspective: what happens when a wife and mother is called into action and how her family adjusts to life without her…and to a changed life upon her return. Home Front not only portrays the great sacrifices our military makes for us, but depicts so powerfully the hidden sacrifices their families make as well.” Very exciting. You can read more about this and Kristin’s other movie news here.
And our other new Book Group Spotlight came from our new website 20SomethingReads.com’s Facebook page! We interviewed Emily Hicks, who responded to one of our posts about book clubs. Here, she talks about her newly formed book club, shares how the group works, and recommends some of her favorite books for twentysomethings.
We have a terrific opportunity for our Registered Book Groups this month. Three groups will have the opportunity to chat with Joshua Henkin and receive 12 copies of The World Without You, which is not in stores until June 19th. 50 additional readers will be awarded a copy of the book. Groups that have registered with us by Tuesday, April 17th will have the chance to win. I read a manuscript of The World Without You in January, and as soon as I finished it, I wanted to chat with others about it, proving it’s a perfect book group title.
In it, it's July 4, 2005, and the Frankel family is descending upon their beloved summer home in the Berkshires for a memorial. Leo, the youngest of the four Frankel siblings and an intrepid journalist and adventurer, was killed one year ago while on assignment in Iraq. Over the course of three days, the Frankels will contend with sibling rivalries and marital feuds, volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, with the true meaning of family. If your group is not registered with ReadingGroupGuides.com, click here to register so you can be eligible to win this contest!
This month’s lineup illustrates some of the great fiction available this year.
Our featured guides this month include Iron House by John Hart, a book that was part of a contest offering in February, and we look forward to hearing from the readers who participated in that! John is a wonderful speaker, and if you are interested in chatting with him, please note that he will be doing a Goodreads.com Chat about Iron House on April 20th. Here are details.
Eileen Goudge is an author who many of you are familiar with as we have featured her work here in the past. The Replacement Wife is a tearjerker about Camille Hart, one of Manhattan’s most sought-after matchmakers who decides to put her matchmaking expertise to the test for one final job --- to find a wife for her husband, as she knows she is terminally ill. As always, Eileen writes a beautiful story. And in a blog post that you can read here, she talks about how she came to write the book and drew inspiration from her own marriage.
Ever thought about spending a year with your family in a foreign country seeing the place as a resident, not as a tourist? That is what Eloisa James did in 2009, as told in Paris in Love, her new memoir of the year she spent abroad in France. Eloisa took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I’ve selected this book as a Bookreporter.com Bets On title. If the number of fabulous books this year keeps up, this list is going to be HUGE by December!
Also featured this month is The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin, which is now available in paperback. This was a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection last year. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash --- whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts' --- suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage. The American Heiress is this month's newsletter contest book. If you are signed up to receive this newsletter, you are automatically entered to win a copy.
Deborah Copaken Kogan’s The Red Book is the story of Clover, Addison, Mia and Jane, who were roommates at Harvard until their graduation in 1989. Twenty years later, they’ve kept abreast of one another via the Red Book, which contains brief autobiographical essays by fellow alumni. But there’s the story we tell the world, and then there’s the real story, as these former classmates will learn during their 20th reunion weekend. Kogan was interviewed on "The Today Show," which you can see here. By the way, I have a theory that women get more honest as the years go on. In our 20s and 30s, we extol the perfect moments of our lives whereas by the time we hit 40 I think we are all a bit more comfortable noting that things are not so perfect. And this book looks beyond that veneer!
In Anne Tyler's new book, The Beginner’s Goodbye, readers are introduced to a middle-aged man grieving his wife. Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. So when he meets Dorothy, an outspoken, self-dependent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. He marries her, and they have a relatively happy marriage. But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only her unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace.
West of Here by Jonathan Evison got a lot of attention as a BEA Book Buzz selection when it came out in hardcover, and thus we are very happy to have the paperback for you. Set in the fictional town of Port Bonita, on Washington State’s rugged Pacific coast, one segment of the narrative focuses on the town’s founders circa 1890 and another shows the lives of their descendants in 2006. The novel develops as a kind of conversation between two epochs, one rushing blindly toward the future and the other struggling to undo the damage of the past.
And in Kathy Hepinstall's Blue Asylum, set during the Civil War, Virginia plantation wife Iris Dunleavy is put on trial and convicted of madness and sent away to Sanibel Asylum. Iris knows, though, that her husband is the true criminal; she is no lunatic, only guilty of disagreeing with him. On this remote Florida island, Iris meets a wonderful collection of residents --- some seemingly sane, some dangerously unstable. One of these is Ambrose Weller, the war-haunted Confederate soldier whose memories terrorize him into wild fits that can only be calmed by the color blue, but whose gentleness and dark eyes beckon to Iris.
We also have a couple of other new blog posts for you.
Claire Bidwell Smith, who wrote The Rules of Inheritance, writes about why she chose a non-linear structure for her memoir.
And Kate Alcott, author of The Dressmaker, shares her research process and inspiration to write a fictional story about the Titanic.
Please take a few moments and weigh in on our latest poll, where we are asking your thoughts about some features that we are considering adding to ReadingGroupGuides.com as part of our redesign. We appreciate your feedback, so please weigh in!
We know that many readers of our site are fans of Adriana Trigiani. Her new book, The Shoemaker's Wife, came out last Tuesday. I wanted to share both a link to "The Today Show" where she talks about the book, and another link to a "CBS Morning Show" segment where she talks about the Adriana Trigiani Tours that she has put together, where readers can visit the locations she talks about in her books. What a great way for a book group to spend some time together --- and maybe even invite some other reader friends to join as well.
Finally, I would like to tell you about BookExpo America, the big book trade show, which will be held in New York from June 5th-7th. Book Club Leaders/Facilitators (You must lead an official book group of at least 10 members and meet at least 10 times a year at a minimum.) are eligible to attend this industry-only event. You can see details on how to register here. Of special note to book groups, I will be moderating an event the morning of Wednesday, June 6th beginning at 9AM, which will give a look at the upcoming fall/winter books. We are still working out details for this program, which we are expanding from the format we have been using the last two years. More on this to come, but note you must be registered to attend the show in order to attend this session.
Here’s to a great month of reading.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
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Special Contest: Win a Copy of TRUE SISTERS by Sandra Dallas for Your Group |
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We are celebrating the release of True Sisters by Sandra Dallas --- the story of four women, seeking the promise of salvation and prosperity in a new land, who come together on a harrowing journey --- with a special contest. Seventy-five (75) readers will have the opportunity to each win a copy of the book, which will be in stores April 24th, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, May 4th at noon ET.
More about True Sisters:
In order to encourage Mormon converts to emigrate to the promised land (Salt Lake City), a plan was implemented by Brigham Young himself: emigrants were outfitted with two-wheeled handcarts. The settlers were then expected to walk, pushing the handcarts, for the 1,300-mile journey from Iowa City. Several “companies,” as they were called, completed this perilous trek and successfully reached Salt Lake City. But for the Martin Company, one of the very last groups to leave from Iowa City that year, the trip proved disastrous.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
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Click here to read all the contest details.
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Special Contest: Win a Copy of A BITTER VEIL by Libby Fischer Hellmann for Your Group |
We are celebrating the release of A Bitter Veil by Libby Fischer Hellmann --- a gripping literary thriller set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution --- with a special contest. Twenty (20) readers will have the opportunity to each win a copy of the book, which will be in stores April 15th, for their group. The deadline for entries is Friday, May 4th at noon ET.
More about A Bitter Veil:
Anna and Nouri, both studying in Chicago, fall in love despite their very different backgrounds. Anna, who has never been close to her parents, is more than happy to return with Nouri to his native Iran, to be embraced by his wealthy family. Beginning their married life together in 1978, their world is abruptly turned upside down by the overthrow of the Shah, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.
-Click here for the reading group guide.
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Click here to read all the contest details.
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THE RED BOOK by Deborah Copaken Kogan |
Four Harvard grads have kept abreast of one another via the red book, a class report published every five years, containing brief autobiographical essays by fellow alumni. But there’s the story we tell the world, and then there’s the real story, as these former classmates will learn during their 20th reunion weekend, when they arrive with their families, their histories, their dashed dreams, and their secret yearnings to a relationship-changing, score-settling, unforgettable weekend.
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Click here for the reading group guide.
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Now Available in Paperback: THE AMERICAN HEIRESS by Daisy Goodwin |
Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.
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Click here for the reading group guide.
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Now Available in Paperback: IRON HOUSE by John Hart |
Julian survives at the Iron Mountain Home for Boys only because his older brother, Michael, is both feared and fiercely protective. When an older boy is brutally killed, Michael makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect his brother: He flees the orphanage and takes the blame with him. For two decades, Michael thrives on the streets of New York, eventually clawing his way to a world of wealth, fear and respect. But the life he’s fought to build unravels when he meets a woman who knows nothing of his past or sins.
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Click here for the reading group guide.
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THE REPLACEMENT WIFE by Eileen Goudge |
Camille Hart, one of Manhattan’s most sought-after matchmakers, has survived more than her fair share of hardships. Now in her 40s, she has already survived cancer once, though the battle revealed just how ill-equipped her husband Edward is to be a single parent. So when doctors tell Camille that her cancer is back --- and this time it’s terminal --- she decides to put her matchmaking expertise to the test for one final job. Seeking stability for her children and happiness for her husband, Camille sets out to find the perfect woman to replace her when she’s gone.
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Click here for the reading group guide.
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Now Available in Paperback: WEST OF HERE by Jonathan Evison |
On the eve of Washington’s statehood in 1889, the Olympic Peninsula remains America’s last frontier. But not for long. At the foot of the Elwha River, the crude and muddy outpost of Port Bonita is about to boom, fueled by a raging band of dizzyingly disparate men and women unified only in their visions of a more prosperous future. Spanning more than a hundred years, from the ragged mudflats of a belching and bawdy frontier to the rusting remains of a strip-mall cornucopia, West of Here chronicles the life of one small town.
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Click here for the reading group guide.
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April's Registered Book Group Contest |
For April, we have a very special opportunity for Registered Book Groups. Three groups will win a chat with Joshua Henkin and receive 12 copies of his forthcoming book, The World Without You, which releases on June 19th. Fifty (50) additional readers will be awarded a copy of the book. Groups that have registered with us by Tuesday, April 17th will have the chance to win. If your group is not registered with ReadingGroupGuides.com, click here to register.
More about The World Without You:
It’s July 4, 2005, and the Frankel family is descending upon their beloved summer home in the Berkshires. But this is no ordinary holiday. The family has gathered to memorialize Leo, the youngest of the four siblings, an intrepid journalist and adventurer who was killed on that day in 2004, while on assignment in Iraq.
The parents, Marilyn and David, are adrift in grief. Their 40-year marriage is falling apart. Clarissa, the eldest sibling and a former cello prodigy, has settled into an ambivalent domesticity and is struggling at 39 to become pregnant. Lily, a fiery-tempered lawyer and the family contrarian, is angry at everyone. And Noelle, whose teenage years were shadowed by promiscuity and school expulsions, has moved to Jerusalem and become a born-again Orthodox Jew. The last person to see Leo alive, Noelle has flown back for the memorial with her husband and four children, but she feels entirely out of place. And Thisbe --- Leo’s widow and mother of their three-year-old son --- has come from California bearing her own secret.
Set against the backdrop of American Independence Day and the Iraq War, The World Without You is a novel about sibling rivalries and marital feuds, about volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, about the true meaning of family.
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Click here to register your group.
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Bookreporter.com's Paperback Spotlight: SAY HER NAME by Francisco Goldman |
Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman (Fiction)
Celebrated novelist Francisco Goldman was barely two years into his marriage to the beautiful young writer Aura Estrada when, on their belated honeymoon, Aura broke her neck while bodysurfing. Francisco was blamed for Aura’s death by her family and, overcome with guilt, he wanted to die too. Instead, he wrote his Prix Femina–winning novel, Say Her Name, “a work of raw grief refined into lyrical elegance” (Sunday Telegraph) that has captured the hearts of readers and reviewers across the globe. Without pathos, Goldman brings his love back to life. Say Her Name is a love story, a bold inquiry into destiny and accountability, and a tribute to Aura --- who she was and who she would have been.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read critical praise.
-Click here to read Francisco Goldman's bio.
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Click here to read more in Bookreporter.com's Paperback Spotlight.
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Bookreporter.com's Paperback Spotlight: TURN OF MIND by Alice LaPlante |
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (Literary Thriller)
When Dr. Jennifer White’s best friend, Amanda, is found dead with four of her fingers surgically removed, Dr. White is the prime suspect. But she herself doesn’t know whether she did it. Told in White’s own voice, fractured and eloquent, a picture emerges of the surprisingly intimate, complex alliance between these life-long friends --- two proud, forceful women who were at times each other’s most formidable adversary. As the investigation into the murder deepens and White’s relationships with her live-in caretaker and two grown children intensify, a chilling question lingers: is White’s shattered memory preventing her from revealing the truth or helping her to hide it?
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read critical praise.
-Click here to read our interview.
-Click here to read Alice LaPlante’s bio.
-Visit www.AliceLaPlante.com.
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Click here to read more in Bookreporter.com's Paperback Spotlight.
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April's New in Paperback Roundups on Bookreporter.com |
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April’s New in Paperback roundups on Bookreporter.com include the following highlights for book groups:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Bethia Mayfield lives among pioneers and Puritans of the 17th century. She yearns for an education, but her gender forbids it. At 12 she encounters Caleb, the Native American son of a chieftain, and the two forge a secret friendship. When Caleb goes to Cambridge to study Latin and Greek, Bethia finds herself there too --- but she is indentured as a housekeeper.
Escape by Barbara Delinsky
Lawyer Emily Aulenbach finds herself working for a company she doesn't believe in, her marriage is suffering a major disconnection, and her entire existence is tied to her technological gadgets. Finally she can't take it anymore and runs away. Is there any hope of getting her previous life back on track? Or must she abandon the whole thing?
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
When a bad economy and a few poor personal decisions converge, siblings Annie and Buster Fang return to their family home. Reunited under one roof for the first time in more than a decade, they are forced to confront not only their creatively ambitious parents, but the chaos and confusion of their childhood.
The Long Goodbye: A Memoir by Meghan O'Rourke
What does it mean to mourn today, in a culture that has largely set aside rituals that acknowledge grief? After her mother died of cancer at the age of 55, Meghan O’Rourke found that nothing had prepared her for the intensity of her sorrow.
-Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of April 2nd, April 9th, April 16th and April 23rd.
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New Guides Now Available |
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The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin: "Anyone suffering ‘Downton Abbey’ withdrawal symptoms will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin’s The American Heiress… a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind." -- Allison Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of I Don’t Know How She Does It and I Think I Love You.
The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler: Anne Tyler gives us a wise, haunting and deeply moving new novel in which she explores how a middle-aged man, ripped apart by the death of his wife, is gradually restored by her frequent appearances --- in their house, on the roadway, in the market.
A Bitter Veil by Libby Fischer Hellmann: American Anna follows her beloved Nouri to his native Iran where their world is abruptly turned upside down by the overthrow of the Shah and the rise of the Islamic Republic.
Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall: Blue Asylum is a vibrant, beautifully imagined, absorbing story of the lines we all cross between sanity and madness. It is also the tale of a spirited woman, a wounded soldier, their impossible love, and the undeniable call of freedom.
Echoes of the Moon by Kathryn Clark: An American woman chronicles daunting challenges and enlightening experiences during her spirit-filled journey to discover a place of her own in Greece.
Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World by Sadakat Kadri: Providing a clear-eyed perspective on an often provocative topic, Heaven on Earth raises important questions about the very nature of governance in the 21st century as nations confront conflicts between modern, secular culture and religious tradition.
Iron House by John Hart: Two families. Two brothers. One explosive secret. John Hart has written four New York Times bestsellers and won an unprecedented two back-to-back Edgar Awards. Now he delivers a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping thriller no reader will soon forget.
Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James: In 2009, Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan: The Big Chill meets The Group in Deborah Copaken Kogan's wry, lively and irresistible new novel about a once-close circle of friends at their 20th college reunion.
The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge: From New York Times bestselling author Eileen Goudge comes a poignant new novel that asks the question “What would you do if you were told you had only six months to live?” For one professional matchmaker, the answer is heart-wrenching: She must find her husband’s next wife.
Suddenly, a Knock on the Door: Stories by Etgar Keret: With Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, bestselling author Etgar Keret brings us more than 30 global tales of karmic revenge, unruly children, solitary lovers, the weirdness of the workplace, and other aspects of human existence.
This Life is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family's Heartbreak by Melissa Coleman: Set on a rugged coastal homestead during the 1970s, This Life is in Your Hands introduces a superb young writer driven by the need to uncover the truth of a childhood tragedy and connect anew with the beauty and vitality of the back-to-the-land ideal that shaped her early years.
True Sisters by Sandra Dallas: From the New York Times bestselling author of Prayers for Sale comes the story of four women, brought together on a harrowing journey of Mormon settlers in this incredible novel based on a real-life event.
The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R. by Carole DeSanti: Eugénie R., born in France’s foie gras country, follows the man she loves to Paris, but soon finds herself marooned, pregnant and penniless. She gives birth to a daughter she is forced to abandon and spends the next 10 years fighting to get her back.
West of Here by Jonathan Evison: Spanning more than a hundred years, from the ragged mudflats of a belching and bawdy frontier to the rusting remains of a strip-mall cornucopia, West of Here chronicles the life of one small town in a saga that turns America’s history into myth and myth into a nation’s shared experience.
When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams: When Women Were Birds explores the shaping of a life through 54 precisely honed chapters, each with its own unique wisdom. Through evocative scenes, captured in lyrical words, Terry Tempest Williams has created a work that startles and illuminates.
The World Without You by Joshua Henkin: From the author of the New York Times Notable Book Matrimony (“Beautiful…. Brilliant” - Michael Cunningham) comes a moving, mesmerizing new novel about love, loss, and the aftermath of a family tragedy.
Please note that these titles, for which we already had the guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now or will be available in paperback:
The Bride’s House by Sandra Dallas: From the New York Times bestselling author of Whiter Than Snow and Prayers for Sale comes a novel about the secrets and passions of three generations of Colorado women who have all lived in the same Victorian home called the Bride’s House.
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh: An amateur florist discovers that her understanding of plants and the moods they convey can truly help those around her.
The Love of My Youth by Mary Gordon: A teenage romance ends in a harsh betrayal only to be rekindled many years later as the adults find their relationship is still not entirely finished.
One Was a Soldier: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Novel by Julia Spencer-Fleming: Adjusting to civilian life after a tour in Iraq proves difficult for Rev. Clare Fergusson in Julia Spencer-Fleming's resonant and timely seventh mystery featuring Clare and her not-so-secret lover, police chief Russ Van Alstyne.
Swim Back to Me: Stories by Ann Packer: This collection of short stories and novellas follows the complicated relationships between people of all ages, backgrounds and social status.
The following new guides are now available for Christian book groups:
The Discovery by Dan Walsh: When literary giant Gerard Warner dies, he leaves his Charleston estate to his grandson, Michael, who discovers an unpublished manuscript his grandfather had written --- something he'd kept hidden from everyone but clearly intended Michael to find.
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This Month’s Poll and Newsletter Contest Book |
Poll:
We are working on a redesign of ReadingGroupGuides.com and would like to know if you are interested in our adding any of the following features to the site. Please note that we already are working on a plan for a new system for our Registered Book Groups to keep their information updated. Please check as many of the following as apply.
A place for you to be able to post your book group's monthly selection, which then has your group eligible for a special monthly prize or prizes.
A place to note additional discussion questions that your group talked about to the discussion guide section.
A place for you to add special things you incorporated into your discussion (special meals/additional materials/other notes, etc.)
A way for you to note on a guide page that your group will be reading the book.
A way for you to note the books you are interested in reading for personal enjoyment.
Other (Please specify)
-Click here to answer our poll.
Newsletter Contest Book:
Win copies of The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin for your group!
To be a group to win 20 free copies of this book, all you have to do is sign up for the ReadingGroupGuides.com newsletter by May 1st. If you are receiving this newsletter in your mailbox, you already are signed up!
More about The American Heiress:
Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.
Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora's story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James.
"For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn't always buy them happiness." --- Daisy Goodwin in The Daily Mail
The American Heiress was originally sold and distributed in the UK as My Last Duchess.
-Click here to read all the contest details.
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Do you like what you see here, and want to forward it to a friend? Then click our link on the bottom of the page to do just that!
Happy reading. We'll see you next month.
Don't forget to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com:
Bookreporter.com, GraphicNovelReporter.com, FaithfulReader.com, Teenreads.com, Kidsreads.com, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com and AuthorYellowPages.com.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228
New York, New York 10107
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