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Editorial Content for Marmee: A Novel of Little Women

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

For as long as there have been beloved maternal figures in literature, there has been Marmee, the matriarch of the March women of LITTLE WOMEN. In MARMEE, Sarah Miller, the author of CAROLINE, retells the story of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy from the perspective of their mother --- a multifaceted, layered woman brought fully to life in this powerful, poignant work of historical fiction. Read More

Teaser

In 1861, war is raging in the South, but in Concord, Massachusetts, Margaret March has her own battles to fight. With her husband serving as an army chaplain, the comfort and security of Margaret’s four daughters --- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy --- now rest on her shoulders alone. Yet even with all that weighs upon her, Margaret longs to do more, so she fills her days with humdrum charity work. All of that is interrupted when she receives a telegram from the War Department, summoning her to her husband’s bedside in Washington, D.C. While she is away, Beth falls dangerously ill, forcing Margaret to confront the possibility that the price of her own generosity toward others may be her daughter’s life.

Promo

In 1861, war is raging in the South, but in Concord, Massachusetts, Margaret March has her own battles to fight. With her husband serving as an army chaplain, the comfort and security of Margaret’s four daughters --- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy --- now rest on her shoulders alone. Yet even with all that weighs upon her, Margaret longs to do more, so she fills her days with humdrum charity work. All of that is interrupted when she receives a telegram from the War Department, summoning her to her husband’s bedside in Washington, D.C. While she is away, Beth falls dangerously ill, forcing Margaret to confront the possibility that the price of her own generosity toward others may be her daughter’s life.

About the Book

From the author of CAROLINE, a revealing retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved LITTLE WOMEN, from the perspective of Margaret “Marmee” March, about the larger real-world challenges behind the cozy domestic concerns cherished by generations of readers.

In 1861, war is raging in the South, but in Concord, Massachusetts, Margaret March has her own battles to fight. With her husband serving as an army chaplain, the comfort and security of Margaret’s four daughters --- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy --- now rest on her shoulders alone. Money is tight and every month, her husband sends less and less of his salary with no explanation. Worst of all, Margaret harbors the secret that these financial hardships are largely her fault, thanks to a disastrous mistake made over a decade ago which wiped out her family’s fortune and snatched away her daughters’ chances for the education they deserve. 

Yet even with all that weighs upon her, Margaret longs to do more --- for the war effort, for the poor, for the cause of abolition and, most of all, for her daughters. Living by her watchwords, “Hope and keep busy,” she fills her days with humdrum charity work to keep her worries at bay. All of that is interrupted when Margaret receives a telegram from the War Department, summoning her to her husband’s bedside in Washington, D.C. While she is away, her daughter Beth falls dangerously ill, forcing Margaret to confront the possibility that the price of her own generosity toward others may be her daughter’s life.

A stunning portrait of the paragon of virtue known as Marmee, a wife left behind, a mother pushed to the brink, a woman with secrets.

Audiobook available, read by Kirsten Potter

Editorial Content for Excuse Me While I Disappear: Tales of Midlife Mayhem

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

Laurie Notaro is getting older, and it’s hitting her pretty hard. Which is good news for her fans. In her latest collection, EXCUSE ME WHILE I DISAPPEAR, Notaro tells all. Which will leave almost anyone of any age laughing out loud.

It all starts with Notaro’s hair. When she begins going gray, her sister, who is single, sagely advises, “You’re married…you have no one left to impress.” It’s that sort of prompting that sends her to the salon chair, paying dearly for two hours of chit-chat and color every three weeks. Read More

Teaser

Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past 50, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts) and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting --- the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries --- Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes, heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius and engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear.

Promo

Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past 50, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts) and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting --- the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries --- Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes, heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius, and engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear.

About the Book

A laugh-out-loud spin on the realities, perks, opportunities and inevitable courses of midlife.

Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past 50, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts) and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything).

Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting --- the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries --- Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes, heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius, and engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear.

And the #1 New York Times bestselling author has never been so fearlessly funny as she is in this empowering, candid and enlightening memoir about living life on the other side of 50.

Audiobook available, read by Hillary Huber

Editorial Content for Navigating Grief and Loss: 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep Your Heart Open to Yourself and Others

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Harvey Freedenberg

The experiences of grief and loss are universal ones. Recognizing that, one might expect that over the millennia humans would have achieved some measure of ease in dealing with them. But as Kimberly Brown points out in NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS, they pose persistent challenges for all of us, which makes the need for reliable coping strategies like the ones she offers more urgent. Read More

Teaser

NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS is a book for anyone who has experienced the pain of mourning, struggled to find a job, or is devastated by a bad breakup. It's a guidebook filled with relatable stories and practical meditations to help navigate the profound experience of death and loss. Filled with traditional Buddhist wisdom into the nature of life, each short chapter honestly describes a personal experience dealing with death or grief, followed by compassionate and mindful practices --- meditations, exercises or contemplations that readers can use to discover insights and truths, and bring comfort and friendship to their own struggles and sorrow.

Promo

NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS is a book for anyone who has experienced the pain of mourning, struggled to find a job, or is devastated by a bad breakup. It's a guidebook filled with relatable stories and practical meditations to help navigate the profound experience of death and loss. Filled with traditional Buddhist wisdom into the nature of life, each short chapter honestly describes a personal experience dealing with death or grief, followed by compassionate and mindful practices --- meditations, exercises or contemplations that readers can use to discover insights and truths, and bring comfort and friendship to their own struggles and sorrow.

About the Book

A trusted meditation teacher shares effective and traditional tools of kindness and wisdom in this personal and useful guide to caring for yourself after loss. 

NAVIGATING GRIEF AND LOSS is a book for anyone who has experienced the pain of mourning, who's struggled to find a job, who is devastated by a bad breakup --- yearning to rest, feel understood and believe in themselves and the future. It's a guidebook filled with relatable stories and practical meditations to help navigate the profound experience of death and loss, be it an elderly parent succumbing to a lingering illness, the shock following a tragic accident, a divorce after years of conflict, or euthanasia of a beloved pet.

Filled with traditional Buddhist wisdom into the nature of life, each short chapter honestly describes a personal experience dealing with death or grief --- staying at a hospice facility at a mother's bedside, feeling frustrated by the options for a terminally ill friend or dealing with difficult family members in the midst of a crisis. Chapters are followed by compassionate and mindful practices --- meditations, exercises or contemplations that readers can use to discover insights and truths, and bring comfort and friendship to their own struggles and sorrow.

Editorial Content for The Body Falls: An Inishowen Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

L. Dean Murphy

Following the 2021 U.S. release of MURDER AT GREYSBRIDGE, solicitor (attorney) Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe has served a six-month stint at a Florida law firm, during which there were no homicides in Glendara, Ireland. Shortly before the Florida flight, Glendara’s top cop Tom Molloy had popped the question, to the surprise of them both. “Molloy was the dilemma I still hadn’t figured out. Read More

Teaser

Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe returns to Glendara, Inishowen, where a charity cycle event is taking place. But rain causes the cyclists to postpone the start of their event and stay overnight in the town. In the middle of the night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap. A body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto a passing vehicle. It is identified as Bob Jameson, a well-known charities boss and the organizer of the cycling event. Stunned, the local doctor finds evidence of a recent snakebite. Terrible weather persists, and soon bridges are down and roads are impassable. Glendara is completely cut off. Since there are no native snakes in Ireland, could there be a killer trapped in the community?

Promo

Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe returns to Glendara, Inishowen, where a charity cycle event is taking place. But rain causes the cyclists to postpone the start of their event and stay overnight in the town. In the middle of the night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap. A body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto a passing vehicle. It is identified as Bob Jameson, a well-known charities boss and the organizer of the cycling event. Stunned, the local doctor finds evidence of a recent snakebite. Terrible weather persists, and soon bridges are down and roads are impassable. Glendara is completely cut off. Since there are no native snakes in Ireland, could there be a killer trapped in the community?

About the Book

Bridges Down. Roads Impassable. Killer Trapped.

It's April in Florida, and Benedicta "Ben" O’Keeffe is enjoying balmy temperatures during the last few days of a six-month stint with a US law firm. A week later, she returns to Glendara, Inishowen, where a charity cycle event is taking place. The town is abuzz with excitement, but it starts to rain, causing the cyclists to postpone the start of their event and stay overnight in the town. The rain doesn’t stop --- it becomes relentless, torrential.

In the middle of the night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap, where a body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto a passing vehicle. It is identified as Bob Jameson, a well-known charities boss and the organizer of the cycling event. Stunned, the local doctor finds evidence of a recent snakebite. Terrible weather persists and soon bridges are down and roads are impassable. Glendara is completely cut off and since there are no native snakes in Ireland, could there be a killer trapped in the community? With no help from the outside world, it’s left to Molloy --- with Ben’s assistance --- to find out who is responsible for Bob Jameson’s bizarre death.

Editorial Content for Lavender House

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Lev AC Rosen, best known for his young adult novel CAMP, returns with LAVENDER HOUSE, a queer locked-room mystery that is as enticing as it is historically resonant. Read More

Teaser

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well-guarded secret, but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in. Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept. However, he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge and jealousy --- and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

Promo

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well-guarded secret, but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in. Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept. However, he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge and jealousy --- and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

About the Book

A delicious story from a new voice in suspense, Lev AC Rosen's LAVENDER HOUSE is Knives Out with a queer historical twist.

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret --- but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in.

Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept --- his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.

Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy --- and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.

Audiobook available, read by Vikas Adam

Editorial Content for One Woman's War: A Novel of the Real Miss Moneypenny

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

If you enjoy learning about real historical events through captivating fiction, then I recommend you read ONE WOMAN’S WAR. Christine Wells’ new novel is about the WWII espionage operation known as Operation Mincemeat. The premise seems so outlandish that it's ingenious. Take a dead body, dress it in a military uniform with identity papers, and handcuff a briefcase filled with fake secret documents about the Allied plans to the corpse's wrist. Be sure that Spanish officials find the body, and the Germans will be informed. Read More

Teaser

From the author of SISTERS OF THE RESISTANCE comes the story of WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Victoire Bennett, the real-life inspiration for the James Bond character Miss Moneypenny, whose international covert operation is put in jeopardy when a volatile socialite and Austrian double agent threatens to expose the mission to German High Command.

Promo

From the author of SISTERS OF THE RESISTANCE comes the story of WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Victoire Bennett, the real-life inspiration for the James Bond character Miss Moneypenny, whose international covert operation is put in jeopardy when a volatile socialite and Austrian double agent threatens to expose the mission to German High Command.

About the Book

From the author of SISTERS OF THE RESISTANCE comes the story of WWII British Naval Intelligence officer Victoire Bennett, the real-life inspiration for the James Bond character Miss Moneypenny, whose international covert operation is put in jeopardy when a volatile socialite and Austrian double agent threatens to expose the mission to German High Command.

World War II London: When Victoire “Paddy” Bennett first walks into the Admiralty’s Room 39, home to the Intelligence Division, all the bright and lively young woman expects is a secretarial position to the charismatic Commander Ian Fleming. But soon her job is so much more, and when Fleming proposes a daring plot to deceive the Germans about Allied invasion plans, he requests the newlywed Paddy's help. She jumps at the chance to work as an agent in the field, even after the operation begins to affect her marriage. But could doing her duty for King and country come at too great a cost?

Socialite Friedl Stöttinger is a beautiful Austrian double agent determined to survive in wartime England, which means working for MI-5, investigating fifth column activity among the British elite at parties and nightclubs. But Friedl has a secret --- some years before, she agreed to work for German Intelligence and spy on the British.

When her handler at MI-5 proposes that she work with Serbian agent, Duško Popov, Friedl falls hopelessly in love with the dashing spy. And when her intelligence work becomes fraught with danger, she must choose whether to remain loyal to the British and risk torture and execution by the Nazis, or betray thousands of men to their deaths.

Soon, the lives of these two extraordinarily brave women will collide, as each travels down a road of deception and danger leading to one of the greatest battles of World War II.

Audiobook available, read by Saskia Maarleveld

November 4, 2022

This is one of my favorite weekends of the year. It’s like a holiday as we change our clocks and gain the hour that we gave up in March. It is especially fun this year as my husband, Tom, and I are in Charleston visiting our dear friend, Cathy, in her new home here. We also are attending some events at the Charleston Literary Festival. I am looking forward to introducing Tom and Cathy to my good friends, Betsy Prioleau and her husband, Philip. Betsy is speaking at the festival on Saturday, along with Tina Brown. And we are all going out on Saturday and Sunday nights. It is such fun when my worlds collide like this.

Which of the following fiction titles releasing in November are you planning to read? Please check all that apply.

November 4, 2022, 557 voters

November 4, 2022 - November 18, 2022

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of November 4 - November 18.

Interview: Andrea Carter, author of The Body Falls: An Inishowen Mystery

Nov 3, 2022

At the close of 2021’s MURDER AT GREYSBRIDGE, Glendara’s top cop Tom Malloy had popped the question to solicitor (attorney) Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe, to the surprise of them both. Befuddled, Ben doesn’t answer yea or nay, needing time to ponder the proposal. Being a brilliant attorney, she serves a six-month stint at a Sarasota law firm, from October to April, Florida’s balmy dry season. In the newly released THE BODY FALLS, she returns to Ireland and hurricane-like rains the day before a charity fundraiser bike race is to begin. A body falls on friend Maeve’s jeep, which is not quite the return-home welcome that Ben had hoped to receive. In this interview, Andrea Carter chats with Bookreporter.com’s Dean Murphy (Ó Murchadha) about her career, future books, the Inishowen Peninsula, and the television adaptation of her novels.