October 17, 2023
Earlier this month, my book group had our last outdoor meeting on my deck, unless the weather warms up again. As we met, we also selected our next two books. For November, it’s THE PARIS DAUGHTER by Kristin Harmel; for December, it's THE SPECTACULAR by Fiona Davis. The latter was selected as a holiday homage to the Rockettes.
We also would like to do something festive for December. If you have any great holiday tie-in ideas, send them my way, and we will share them in the next newsletter. Please use the subject line “Holiday” in your email so I am sure to see it.
Editorial Content for Coleman Hill
Book
Teaser
COLEMAN HILL is the exhilarating story of two American families whose fates become intertwined in the wake of the Great Migration. Braiding fact and fiction, it is a remarkable, character-rich tour de force exploring the ties that bind three generations.
Promo
COLEMAN HILL is the exhilarating story of two American families whose fates become intertwined in the wake of the Great Migration. Braiding fact and fiction, it is a remarkable, character-rich tour de force exploring the ties that bind three generations.
About the Book
COLEMAN HILL is the exhilarating story of two American families whose fates become intertwined in the wake of the Great Migration. Braiding fact and fiction, it is a remarkable, character-rich tour de force exploring the ties that bind three generations.
In 1916, during the early days of the Great Migration, Celia Coleman and Lucy Grimes flee the racism and poverty of their homes in the post–Civil War South for the “Promised Land” of Vauxhall, New Jersey. But the North possesses its own challenges and bigotries that will shape the fates of the women and their families over the next 70 years. Told through the voices of nine family members --- their perspectives at once harmonious and contradictory --- COLEMAN HILL is a penetrating multigenerational debut.
Within 10 years of arriving in Vauxhall, both Celia and Lucy’s husbands are dead, and they turn to one another for support in raising their children far from home. Lucy’s gentleness sets Celia at ease, and Celia lends Lucy her fire when her friend wants to cower. Encouraged by their mothers’ friendship, their children’s lives become enmeshed as well. As the children grow into adolescence, two are caught in an impulsive act of impropriety, and Celia and Lucy find themselves at irreconcilable odds over who’s to blame. The ensuing fallout has dire consequences that reverberate through the next two generations of their families.
A stunning biomythography --- a word coined by the late great writer Audre Lorde --- COLEMAN HILL draws from the author’s own family legend, historical record and fervent imagination to create an unforgettable new history. The result is a kaleidoscopic novel whose intergenerational arc emerges through a series of miniatures that contain worlds.
Editorial Content for The Last Devil to Die: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery
Teaser
It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club. In THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, shocking news reaches them --- an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
Promo
It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club. In THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, shocking news reaches them --- an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
About the Book
A new mystery is afoot in the fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series from million-copy bestselling author Richard Osman.
It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club.
Shocking news reaches them --- an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
The gang's search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers and online fraudsters --- as well as heartache close to home --- Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust.
With the body count rising, the clock ticking down, and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out?
And who will be the last devil to die?
Editorial Content for The Museum of Failures
Teaser
THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES is an immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of HONOR, a Reese’s Book Club pick.
Promo
THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES is an immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of HONOR, a Reese’s Book Club pick.
About the Book
An immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of HONOR, a Reese’s Book Club pick.
When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl --- and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life.
Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment, he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions?
Surprising, devastating, and ultimately a story of redemption and healing still possible between a mother and son, THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES is a tour de force from one of our most elegant storytellers about the mixed bag of love and regret. It is also, above all, a much-needed reminder that forgiveness comes from empathy for others.