July 18, 2026
Book group in the summertime means that we sit outside at my house, andthat means we use the plastic wine glasses instead of the glass ones. They still bring the wine.
This week, we discussed THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett. We loved the characters and talked about how we especially were drawn to Meg, with more than one of us commenting that we missed her. Some of us listened to the audiobook, while others read the hardcover. The audio got high marks.
Editorial Content for Arrivals and Departures
Teaser
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE JETSETTERS comes a witty and wonderful novel about one unforgettable family and the journeys we take --- across oceans and through heartbreak --- to find our way back to love.
Promo
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE JETSETTERS comes a witty and wonderful novel about one unforgettable family and the journeys we take --- across oceans and through heartbreak --- to find our way back to love.
About the Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE JETSETTERS comes a witty and wonderful new novel about one unforgettable family and the journeys we take --- across oceans and through heartbreak --- to find our way back to love.
The Perkins family has problems. They’re scattered across the globe. Lee, a glamorous reality TV star, is struggling with her mental health in the spotlight. Regan, her younger sister, has fallen for a romance scammer. Cord, their charming brother, is one drink away from losing it all. And their mother, Charlotte, still longs for the love she let slip away a decade ago, a lover who sailed off with her heart to a remote island in Greece.
When Regan disappears, Lee flies first-class to Athens to save her family --- again. There, against the glittering Mediterranean and the shadow of the Acropolis, Lee contends with emotional nieces, relentless paparazzi, and her own fragile heart. Lee is desperately searching --- for her sister, and for the hope and joy she thought was gone forever.
Across continents and crises, each member of the Perkins family must face the same question: Is it ever too late to choose love?
Featuring characters from Ward’s bestselling novel, THE JETSETTERS, ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES is brimming with humor, honesty and hope. It’s the story of a family finding the courage to say the only words that can save us: I love you.
Editorial Content for Country People
Book
Teaser
Joyous, absurd and life-affirming, COUNTRY PEOPLE is a luminous exploration of marriage and parenthood, the nature of belief and the power of stories, and the ways in which we find connection in an increasingly fragmented world.
Promo
Joyous, absurd and life-affirming, COUNTRY PEOPLE is a luminous exploration of marriage and parenthood, the nature of belief and the power of stories, and the ways in which we find connection in an increasingly fragmented world.
About the Book
A year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont) --- a “witty and gorgeous” (The Guardian) novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason, the bestselling author of NORTH WOODS.
Miles Krzelewski is a devoted husband, a doting father beloved for his outlandish bedtime stories, and the proud owner of a truffle-hunting dog in a land with no truffles. He is also a bit lost, 12 years late with his PhD on Russian folktales and increasingly haunted by a sense that he’s become a disappointment to his family. So when his wife, Kate, accepts a visiting professorship at a prestigious college in the faraway forests of Vermont, he decides that this will be the year to finally move forward with his life.
But Miles is a man of many enthusiasms, one who possesses, in Kate’s words, a great capacity “to fall in with anyone, anywhere.” And no sooner does he arrive than he finds himself entangled with a cast of characters as colorful as those of any of his folktales --- from a ghostly tree surgeon to a scythe-mad biochemist, from a Shakespearean temptress to a photographer of snowflakes obsessed with chronicling, on thousands of index cards, the world’s delusions in an Inventory of Wrong Ideas.
The new friends, the enchanted woods, the histories: sure, no PhD, but all good fun. Until Miles stumbles upon a bizarre --- perhaps ridiculous --- local legend, which, he soon suspects, might not be just a legend after all.
Joyous, absurd and life-affirming, COUNTRY PEOPLE is a luminous exploration of marriage and parenthood, the nature of belief and the power of stories, and the ways in which we find connection in an increasingly fragmented world.
Editorial Content for Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
Teaser
For fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans, this unforgettable and exquisitely moving novel is about finding beauty, hope and meaning in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
Promo
For fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans, this unforgettable and exquisitely moving novel is about finding beauty, hope and meaning in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
About the Book
For fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans, an unforgettable and exquisitely moving novel about finding beauty, hope and meaning in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
Travis is Death in the modern world. He wears jeans and a T-shirt and lives in a small, gray town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life. He’s stoic, gentle and a little naive, despite everything he knows. He’s young and handsome, despite who he is. Each death he witnesses is meaningful to him. He listens, never judges and, most importantly, never tries to change anyone’s fate. He knows that every life must eventually end to maintain the balance of the universe, and he respects the cycle.
Then he meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter, Layla, who live across the hall. Despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive --- and what might be irrevocably lost in death.
Written with radiant warmth, wisdom and compassion, EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL AND NOTHING HURT is a timeless story about appreciating life, accepting its end, and finding our place in the universe --- especially when it feels most impossible --- that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost or worried at time’s passing.
Editorial Content for A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams
Teaser
From war-torn streets to the chandeliered halls of power, A FOUNDING MOTHER is the unforgettable story of a woman ahead of her time --- one whose voice, vision and valor still resonate powerfully today.
Promo
From war-torn streets to the chandeliered halls of power, A FOUNDING MOTHER is the unforgettable story of a woman ahead of her time --- one whose voice, vision and valor still resonate powerfully today.
About the Book
In time for the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams --- wife of one president and mother to another --- whose wit, willpower and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic. A stunning historical novel with modern-day implications from the New York Times bestselling authors of AMERICA'S FIRST DAUGHTER and MY DEAR HAMILTON.
In the heart of revolutionary Boston, Abigail Adams raises her children amid riots, blockades and the outbreak of war. While her husband, John Adams, rises from country lawyer to nation-builder, often away for years at a time, Abigail builds her own independence --- managing their farm, making lucrative investments, amassing savings, battling plague and loss, and defending their home. Unafraid to speak her mind, she famously offers fearless political counsel, urging John to “remember the ladies” in the new government. Through it all, she becomes his most trusted confidante and indispensable ally.
When peace is secured, Abigail steps onto the world stage --- exchanging ideas with Thomas Jefferson in the French countryside, navigating court life as the wife of the Minister to Great Britain, and presiding over the parlor politics of the early American republic in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Even after her husband’s presidential administration, she continues battling political foes and working behind the scenes to advance her family, secure independence for the women in her life, and ensure a better life for the next generation of Americans.
From war-torn streets to the chandeliered halls of power, A FOUNDING MOTHER is the unforgettable story of a woman ahead of her time --- one whose voice, vision and valor still resonate powerfully today.











