READING NATION MAGAZINE May 2022 by Reading Nation Magazine

Crazy To Leave You by Marilyn Rothstein "A heartfelt, delicious story." --Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace From the author of Husbands and Other Sharp Objects comes a witty, bighearted novel about the happy accidents that lead to love and second chances. Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry, and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There's just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar. In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (Stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters only add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren's couch while the other is too perfect. Picking her heart up off the floor, Lauren turns to her work in advertising as she gathers courage to move on and plan her next step. She should know by now that nothing in life goes according to plan. What lies ahead is the road to self-acceptance and at long last feeling worthy. With a new way to measure love and success, Lauren chucks her scale--and finds a second chance in the most unexpected place. Marilyn's latest novel, Crazy to Leave You, will launch on May 24, 2022 from Lake Union Publishing. Lisa Barr, author of Woman on Fire, says: "Rothstein’s genius lies in her keen observations, richly developed characters, razor-sharp ability to expose family dysfunction at its rotten core – and most of all, her unparalleled laugh-out-loud humor through love, loss, hope and healing."

Marilyn Simon Rothstein burst onto the women’s fiction scene with Lift and Separate, which was released in December 2016, and received the 2017 Star Award for Best Debut from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Jennifer Belle, bestselling author of High Maintenance, said, “Lift and Separate is a laughout-loud, heartwarming story that begs to be a blockbuster starring Nicholson and Keaton and shares the vulnerability, wisdom, and brilliance of Nora Ephron's Heartburn.” Marilyn’s second humorous novel, Husbands and Other Sharp Objects, was published in March 2018, also by Lake Union. Camille Pagan, author of Life and Other Near-Death Experiences, said, “From the first page I knew I was in expert hands. Rothstein has a true gift for humor and a knack for hitting the nail on the head—and her latest is no exception. Prepare to laugh a lot, cry a little, and come away from this novel feeling full of hope and joy.” In addition, Marilyn is an engaging speaker who has addressed thousands of avid readers--from Dallas to Atlanta to Miami to Memphis. She has spoken extensively through the Jewish Book Council. She has entertained the members of philanthropic organizations and enjoys all literary events. She is a keynote speaker at the Pulpwood Queen Girlfriends Weekend. Pulpwood Queen is a network of over 700 books clubs worldwide. Marilyn grew up in New York City, earned a degree in journalism from NYU, began her writing career at Seventeen magazine, married a man she met in an elevator and owned an award-winning advertising agency for more than twenty-five years. She lives in Connecticut with her sharp object.

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MAY 2022

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The Queen of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel by Pamela Binnings Ewen Legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel is revered for her sophisticated style--the iconic little black dress--and famed for her intoxicating perfume Chanel No. 5. Yet behind the public persona is a complicated woman of intrigue, shadowed by mysterious rumors. The Queen of Paris, the new novel from award-winning author Pamela Binnings Ewen, is fiction based on facts, some uncovered only within the past few years, and vividly imagines the hidden life of Chanel during the four years of Nazi occupation in Paris in the midst of WWII. Coco Chanel could be cheerful, lighthearted, and generous; she also could be ruthless, manipulative, even cruel. Against the winds of war, with the Wehrmacht marching down the Champs-Élysées, Chanel finds herself residing alongside the Reich's High Command in the Hotel Ritz. Surrounded by the enemy, Chanel wages a private war of her own to wrestle full control of her perfume company from the hands of her Jewish business partner, Pierre Wertheimer. With antiSemitism on the rise, he has escaped to the United States with the confidential formula for Chanel No. 5. Distrustful of his intentions to set up production on the outskirts of New York City, Chanel fights to seize ownership. The House of Chanel shall not fall. While Chanel struggles to keep her livelihood intact, Paris sinks under the iron fist of German rule. Chanel--a woman made of sparkling granite--will do anything to survive. She will even agree to collaborate with the Nazis in order to protect her darkest secrets. When she is covertly recruited by Germany to spy for the Reich, she becomes Agent F-7124, code name: Westminster. But why? And to what lengths will she go to keep her stormy past from haunting her ISSUE NO 14 future? 5

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Hello Readers! Welcome to READING NATION MAGAZINE, THE magazine for readers and booklovers everywhere. This month’s issue is filled with more great books to add to your TBR list, new authors to follow, an essay from Suzanne Kamata, fun facts with Marilyn Rothstein, Off The Page with River Jordan, book trailers, pet interviews, and so much more. Enjoy! As of April 29th Reading Nation Magazine has received over 96K views! PQ & TG Authors - standard pages to advertise your books start at $25. If you’d like to advertise here email readingnationmagazine@gmail.com.

Reading Nation Magazine is just one of the benefits of being a Pulpwood Queen or Timber Guy Book Club Author.

Mandy Haynes

Pulpwood Queen Author Creator, Editor, and Publisher of READING NATION MAGAZINE, Owner of three dogs write press

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WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PULPWOOD QUEEN

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AN OPEN INVITATION FROM AYELET BARON

MEET MARILYN ROTHSTEIN

READING PAT CONROY IN JAPAN

TOO GOOD NOT TO SHARE

READING WITH QUEEN MAMA KAT

TIARA WEARING BOOK SHARING GUIDE TO LIFE

IF OUR PETS COULD TALK

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The Queen of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel by Pamela Binnings Ewen Ranked No. 1 in Historical Fiction for Hot New Releases (2020) by Amazon Kindle! “Ewen (The Moon in the Mango Tree) dazzles in this outstanding historical thriller that chronicles the life of Coco Chanel in occupied France. ..Ewen’s Chanel is arrogant and fragile in equal measure, and the author does a marvelous job of diving into the motivations of a woman born into poverty as she defends the fortune she built for herself, making this a refreshingly nuanced character portrait and also a real page-turner. This is top-notch historical fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly – starred review “Empathetic yet unsparing. The Queen of Paris is an engrossing historical novel that reveals another room in the House of Chanel: beyond the timeless elegance, simplicity, and jasmine-scented perfume was a desperate woman, trapped by a maze of circumstances, and her own troubled mind.” Foreward Reviews 10

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Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops: A Memoir by Allison Hong Merrill Allison Hong is not your typical fifteen-year-old Taiwanese girl. Unwilling to bend to the conditioning of her Chinese culture, which demands that women submit to men's will, she disobeys her father's demand to stay in their faith tradition, Buddhism, and instead joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, six years later, she drops out of college to serve a mission--a decision for which her father disowns her. After serving her mission in Taiwan, twenty-two-year-old Allison marries her Chinese-speaking American boyfriend, Cameron Chastain. But sixteen months later, Allison returns home to their Texas apartment and is shocked to discover that, in her two-hour absence, Cameron has taken all the money, moved out, and filed for divorce. Desperate for love and acceptance, Allison moves to Utah and enlists in an imaginary, unforgiving dating war against the bachelorettes at Brigham Young University, where the rules don't make sense--and winning isn't what she thought it would be. ISSUE NO 14

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Goodbye, Orchid: To Love Her, He Had To Leave Her by Carol Van Den Hende One of the most anticipated 2020 fall reads: Buzzfeed l Parade l Travel+Leisure. Winner: 2020 American Fiction Award l Pinnacle Achievement Award. "Page-turner" "Breath of awe" "Tugs on your soul" Can love blossom after life changes in an instant? One July morning in Manhattan, handsome athlete and entrepreneur Phoenix Walker accompanies his love, halfAsian beauty Orchid, to the airport. Neither believes today is goodbye. But after she leaves, disaster strikes. Phoenix wakes in the hospital, broken, forever changed. He longs for Orchid but remembers the tragedy in her past that makes her panic over images of trauma. Now, he's faced with the hardest decision of his life. Does he burden the woman whose traumatic childhood makes him feel protective of her? Or does true love mean leaving her without explaining why? 12

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Just One Look by Joanne Kukanza Easley "Easley writes a thoroughly gripping story, set in the sixties and seventies, of a woman's loss and grief, and how, after a series of trying events, she learned how to heal her heart again." -Sublime Book Review In 1965 Chicago, thirteen-year-old Dani Marek declares she's in love, and you best believe it. This is no crush, and for six blissful years she fills her hope chest with linens, dinnerware, and dreams of an idyllic future with John. When he is killed in action in Viet Nam, Dani's world shatters. She launches a one-woman vendetta against the men she seeks out in Rush Street's singles bars. Her goal: break as many hearts as she can. Dani's ill-conceived vengeance leads her to a loveless marriage that ends in tragedy. At twenty-four, she's left a widow with a baby, a small fortune, and a ghost-make that two. Set in the turbulent Sixties and Seventies, Just One Look explores one woman's tumultuous journey through grief, denial, and letting go.

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Published by Brother Mockingbird and edited by Pulpwood Queen Author, Susan Cushman, this collection of essays by authors, book club members, and supporters of the Pulpwood Queens is a love letter to the founder and CEO, Kathy L. Murphy. An ode to the written word and the place that literature and reading play in all of our lives.

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PULPWOOD QUEEN

Thank you Brother Mockingbird Publishing for letting us share some stories!

What Happens in East Texas, Stays in East Texas Jamie Ford

2018 marked the fifth time I’ve attended the annual Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend, which for authors is sort of like Coachella meets Burning Man with a little bit of Elvis thrown in for a hunka-hunka good measure. (And twice they’ve had world-class Elvis impersonators, so I’m not even kidding.) In other words, you have to be there to fully understand this phenomenon. The Pulpwood Queens began as one humble little book club founded in Jefferson, Texas (Pop. 1967), by Kathy L. Murphy, who owned Beauty and the Book, a salon/bookstore where you could read Cutting for Stone while Kathy cut your bangs. ISSUE NO 14

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Now they number over 750 affiliated book clubs all over the world. Their book-loving members wear tiaras, leopard print everything, and a lot of pink! (I tried writing that sentence without an exclamation mark, but it just needed to be there.) Once a year, scores of these book club members make the pilgrimage to East Texas for a book love explosion of author panels, keynotes, dancing, and costumes galore. A few years ago, the theme was “Around the World with Books” so I went as a steampunked Phileas Fogg, complete with a wearable hot air balloon. That was my fourth year, and I’d learned that you can’t overdo it when it comes to costuming. These ladies go all out. I was also honored to be co-hosting, which meant I got to do a lot of the interviewing, instead of being the interviewee, which was exhausting, exhilarating, and an all-round good time. Plus, it’s always nice to meet other authors, make new friends, spend time with fellow travelers on this weird, magical writing journey. I got to rub elbows with a Pulitzer Prize winner (Bill Dedman), a Nobel Prize finalist (Pat Montandon), and one of the ghostwriters for the Hardy Boys (Joe Holley). Last, but not least, I was gobsmacked to learn that my novel, Songs of Willow Frost, had been voted the Pulpwood Queens Fiction Book of the Year. You’d think those highlights would be enough to sum it all up, but no, there’s so much more.

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PULPWOOD QUEEN

If you’d like to know what Jamie’s Top 10 PQ Girlfriend Weekend moments are - get a copy of THE PULPWOOD QUEEN CELEBRATES 20 YEARS and read for yourself. You’ll be glad you did!

#8 - Dressing up as the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland (my wife, Leesha, was the Dormouse). As I donned my ears and bowtie, fellow author, Mark Childress, said, “There will be photos of you in that outfit for the rest of your life.” I’m totally okay with that.

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Patricia Sands lives two hours north of Toronto, but her heart's other home is the South of France. She spends part of each year on the Cote d'Azur and once a year co-leads a 16-women, 12-day tour of the Riviera and Provence that is based on her novels. Her awardwinning 2010 debut novel, The Bridge Club, is a book club favorite. The Promise of Provence, which launched her three-part Love in Provence series was a finalist for a 2013 USA Best Book Award and a 2014 National Indie Excellence Award, an Amazon Hot New Release in April 2013, and a 2015 nominee for a #RBRT Golden Rose award in the category of romance. Drawing Lessons, Sands’ fifth novel, also set in the south of France, was released by Lake Union Publishing in 2017 and was a Finalist in the Somerset Literary Book Award 2019. The Villa des Violettes miniseries released in 2019/20 and Book 4 is anticipated in 2023. Her new novel, The Secrets We Hide, is scheduled for release May/June 2022. She is also busy writing a novella, Lost At Sea, to be included in the nine-book Sail Away series 22

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that will publish in January 2023. A lifelong photographer, follow her to France on Instagram @patricialsands. Find out more at Patricia’s Facebook Author Page, Amazon Author Page or her website where there are links to her books, social media, and monthly newsletter that has special giveaways and sneak peeks. She would love to hear from you! ISSUE NO 14

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Crazy To Leave You: A Novel by Marilyn Simon Rothstein The worse day in Lauren Leo's life may be the best thing that ever happened to her... “Reading a book by Marilyn Simon Rothstein is like sitting at the fun table at a wedding, listening to all an insider’s funny stories about the blessed event’s guests, and those she unsparingly tells on herself. Marilyn Simon Rothstein makes me laugh—and reminds me that even in a comic novel, the emotional dynamics in a nosy, tight-knit Jewish family with three competitive daughters can be as twisted as they are laughable. In Rothstein’s third hilarious novel, we follow the victim of a brutal hit-and-runaway groom, a bride with a ticking biological clock and a brilliant Manhattan advertising career. Despite her bona fides, this abandoned singleton has no way to spin the mortifying situation she finds herself in—dumped at the altar by a weakling who announces his plan by texting her sister. Will she ever love again? Will she ever stop eating to fill the hole he left? You’ll find out, and if you’re like me, you’ll be waiting for this author’s next book.” —Thelma Adams, author of The Last Woman Standing and Bittersweet Brooklyn 24

MAY 2022

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Other People's Things by Kerry Anne King From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Whisper Me This comes a witty, magical story about improbable connections, difficult gifts, and the unexpected events that heal us and bring us together. Jailbird. Klepto. Spectacular failure to launch. Nicole Wood's sticky fingers have earned her many names, but it's not that she's stealing--some objects just need to be moved elsewhere, and the universe has chosen her to do it. Still, being a relocator of objects isn't easy. With her marriage on the rocks, no real-world skills, and the threat of prison hanging over her head, Nicole is determined to change her ways. Things seem to be looking up, thanks to a godsent job with her sister's housecleaning business--until she encounters a seemingly harmless paperback that insists on moving from one client's home to another's. Nicole hopes no one will notice, but the action stirs up long-hidden secrets and triggers a series of fateful events that threatens to destroy the life she's creating and hurt those closest to her. She'll need to embrace her unwieldy gift and take a chance on love in order to unravel the mystery and fix what's gone wrong. ISSUE NO 14

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Oliver by Mandy Haynes What if people just needed a little help to be nicer to each other? "It’s the summer of ’72, and 11-year-old Olivia is looking for magic, even though she doesn’t know it quite yet. Struggling with a bad temper and combativeness, Olivia is just plain “onery.” But her older brother, Oliver, a special needs teen, shows her where and how to look for the magic that can indeed be found in all of us. A comingof-age novella, brilliantly written with a true Southern drawl, Oliver is a poignant story about love, hope, and kindness." - Reader Review, Karen Miller “A wonderful story of kindness and love among siblings, family and most of all strangers. Two siblings come up with the plan to anonymously spread kindness to residents of their small town. You will end up loving Oliver and his sister Olivia from their love for each other and their kind, generous hearts to relative strangers. The two of them reminded me of the relationship between Scout and Jeb. You close the book 28

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having a warm feeling for the characters and a hope for more kindness in the world. You'll be looking forward to the next publication by Mandy Haynes.” - Five Star Reader Review, Janet Henderson “Mandy Haynes OLIVER is a delight! Her novella transports the reader to a time when life was simpler. I thought, as I read it, about my own childhood. Her characters were drawn in a way that brought to mind Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.” - Five Star Reader Review, Lovelace Cook “Mandy Haynes once again weaves a story that takes the reader on a journey through many emotions. You won't regret an afternoon spent with the sassy but fiercely-loyal Olivia and her big-hearted big brother Oliver as they try to make the world a better place. We need more Olivers in this world!” Five Star Reader Review “I received my book, Oliver, and couldn’t wait to get started on it! When I picked It up I couldn't put it down! I HIGHLY recommend that you get this book and soak up the story of Oliver told through the eyes of his younger sister. Kindness, compassion, generosity, and love. Soak it in and be uplifted by this heartwarming story!” Five Star Reader Review, Missy Sanders ISSUE NO 14

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The Visiting Girl by Madge Walls Graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1901, Lily Paxton is out of funds and at loose ends. With no immediate family, not raised to work, and no husband in sight, she becomes a "visiting girl," going from home to home among her married friends in Philadelphia. When the visiting circuit pales, Lily disappears, leaving her best friend Caroline a note saying she is off to an adventure out West. Lily keeps to herself that she is three months pregnant and has left with a man she barely knows-a man who is not the baby's father. Twenty years later, Lily writes to Caroline from Portland, Oregon, where she is dying of leukemia, asking Caroline to come to her in her final days. Caroline leaps at the opportunity to reconcile with her long-lost friend, but soon discovers that Lily has a hidden agenda that threatens to destroy both their families. The Visiting Girl is inspired by the young life of movie star Katharine Hepburn's mother, an early graduate of Bryn Mawr and leader of the women's suffrage movement. 30

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Madge Walls was raised in Honolulu, where her grandparents washed ashore in 1923 from South Africa and New Zealand via British Samoa. She raised her children on Maui, where she was a licensed Realtor and instructor for many years. She was also a regular freelance contributor to the Maui News. She got the itch to write fiction about 25 years ago, but she couldn't think of anything to write about. Then one day she picked up a murder mystery in which a Realtor sauntered in on page two: overly dressed, overly made up, overly jeweled, and with her plump little feet jammed into dangerous looking fourinch heels. She was NOT a nice person, and she got nastier as the story went on. You guessed it--she turned out to be the murderer, and a very gruesome murder it was. Madge was insulted. She was a Realtor, and many of her friends were Realtors. They were hardworking people, good parents, contributors to society in many important ways. Suddenly, she realized she had her subject. After all, a main character has to have a career. Madge knew the real estate business, and boy, was it interesting! So she sat down and started to write. Enter Laura McDaniel, Realtor, a forty-something single mother living on Maui who sells a glamorous For-Sale-By-Owner to her favorite clients. Madge has just finished her third novel, The Visiting Girl, a historical set in Philadelphia and Portland, having retired from her recent careers of indexing nonfiction books (All Sky Indexing) and helping others write their memoirs (Memoirs by Madeline). She lives in southern Oregon, closer to her children and grandchildren. She’s having a mainland adventure and enjoying every minute of it. ISSUE NO 14

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Death by Poison by Abigail Keam There is justice, and then there's Josiah's justice! Josiah Reynolds is hitching Morning Glory, her American Paint Horse, to an antique pony cart when horse whisperer, Velvet Maddox, hurries over to them. Pointing a thin, crooked finger at Josiah, she announces that Josiah can’t participate in the annual Shawnee Trace Horse Parade. “I see death standing next to your horse. Beware, Josiah. Beware.” Startled, Josiah is worried as Miss Velvet is never wrong about such things, but decides to plunge ahead. Surely this time Velvet is mistaken. No one can see death. The event goes off without a hitch until spectators surge forward onto the parade route and surround the horses, causing them to spook. Morning Glory rears up and the pony cart runs over something. Josiah stops her horse immediately and peers over the side of her cart. 32

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There is a shoeless leg sticking out from underneath the cart. Josiah realizes that Miss Velvet was correct. Death was, indeed, hovering near her horse. FIVE STARS! “Death by Poison by Abigail Keam is a fun and entertaining book with an amazing cast of characters, and Abigail Keam has a talent for writing such characters. The mix of comedy and mystery with that hint of drama makes for a wonderful story. This is a mystery that has a bit of everything and is definitely recommended to anyone.” Readers’ Favorite

FIVE STARS! “Grab a comfy seat and an iced tea. Sit back and enjoy a Southern mystery with "red herrings" galore and one of the most entertaining and original characters you'll meet!” Jerri Cachero, Diva’s Book Reviews

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The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney When an eleven-year-old, whisky drinking, piano prodigy encounters a wealthy family possessing supernatural beauty, her ensuing obsession unleashes family secrets and a cataclysmic plague of cicadas. The summer of 1956, a brood of cicadas descends upon Providence, Georgia, a natural event with supernatural repercussions, unhinging the life of Analeise Newell, an eleven-year-old piano prodigy. Amidst this emergence, dark obsessions are stirred, uncanny gifts provoked, and secrets unearthed. "Gwaltney's Southern Gothic, THE CICADA TREE mesmerizes and seduces, the language redolent and deadly, the characters steeped in secrets and madness, and the whole of it an enthralling and perfect read. Easily my favorite book of the year."-Kim Taylor Blakemore, bestselling author of After Alice Fell 34

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Beyond the Song by Carol Selick Also available as an audiobook!

Beyond the Song is an autobiographical novel based on the author's coming of age in the 'sixties and early 'seventies. A singer-songwriter like her alterego Carol Marks, Carol Selick begins each chapter with lyrics she wrote and still performs today. Taken together, the songs introduce the themes of her story and trace the development of her character as she rebels against her strict suburban upbringing to join the counter-culture in hopes of fulfilling her dream of making it in the music business. The narrator relates her tale in a warm, vulnerable, and irrepressibly zany voice as Carol goes to school in Washington DC, drops out to take a pilgrimage to Berkeley, and eventually winds up living in New York in pursuit of making it in the music business. Torn between romance and career, she continually wavers. ISSUE NO 14

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Nowhere Near Barbara Conrey

Goodbye

A mother's love vs. a doctor's oath. Oncologist Emma Blake has dedicated her life to finding a cure for a rare brain cancer. Twenty-five years ago, Emma's childhood friend Kate died of glioblastoma, and Emma vowed to annihilate the deadly disease. Now, Kate's father, Ned, is pushing her to work harder to fulfill that promise. When Emma discovers she's pregnant, she's torn between the needs of her family and the demands of her work. While Ned pressures her to do the unthinkable, her husband, Tim, decorates the nursery. Unwilling to abandon her research, Emma attempts to keep both sides of her life in balance. Emma knows she needs to reconcile her past with her present and walk the fine line between mother and physician. But Ned has a secret, and when Emma discovers what he's been hiding, the foundation of her world cracks. “The past verses the present. The desperate needs of a family going against the desperate needs of work. And secrets that could derail everything. Conrey's beautifully written novel probes the choices we make--and the choices we regret, and she does it with grace and aplomb.” Caroline Leavitt, New York Times Bestselling author of Pictures of You and With or Without You 36

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Purple Lotus by Veena Rao Tara moves to the American South three years after her arranged marriage to tech executive Sanjay. Ignored and lonely, Tara finds herself regressing back to childhood memories that have scarred her for life. When she was eight, her parents had left her behind with her aging grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle in Mangalore, while taking her baby brother with them to make a new life for the family in Dubai. Tara's memories of abandonment and isolation mirror her present life of loneliness and escalating abuse at the hands of her husband. She accepts the help of kind-hearted American strangers to fight Sanjay, only to be pressured by her patriarchal family to make peace with her circumstances. Then, in a moment of truth, she discovers the importance of self-worth--a revelation that gives her the courage to break free, gently rebuild her life, and even risk being shunned by her community when she marries her childhood love, Cyrus Saldanha. Life with Cyrus is beautiful, until old fears come knocking. Intimate and deeply moving, Purple Lotus is the story of one woman's ascension from the dark depths of desolation toward the light of freedom. ISSUE NO 14

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the story of a little adopted daughter who comes to her American mother with secrets.

Thehasstmultiple She ory ofpersonalities. a little adop comes to he ted da hter Amcourage, ericanand It is the story of rlove, the searchug a normal who mot her wfor ith secrets. life. Sh e has multip le personaliti es. readers of all story is bound to entertain and educate ItThis is and theinterests. ages ory of ve search for st , courage, a normal lo and the life. This story bound to en readers of is all ages and tertain and educat e interests.

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The Memory of Flight by Debra Bowling Marilyn's quiet, mysterious beauty belies the turmoil inside her head. She moves with her children to her parent's farm to escape her alcoholic husband's increasingly violent outbursts. Her daughter, Ginny, finds comfort in her grandmother's company and the discovery of her father's old Brownie camera. As Marilyn's mental health declines, Ginny embarks on an obsession with taking photographs--particularly of people in moments of raw emotion. A chance to go away to college gives Ginny hope for a new life. But soon a new crisis with Marilyn and a murder investigation force Ginny to face and reconcile her difficult childhood. Five Stars - "Emotionally riveting...The Memory of Flight is an emotional and satisfying read. Highly Recommended." Diane Stanton for Story Circle Book Reviews

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Rabbit in the Moon by Heather Diamond Blame it on Hawaii's rainbows, sparkling beaches, fruity cocktails, and sensuous breezes. For Heather Diamond, there for a summer course on China, a sea change began when romance bloomed with Fred, an ethnomusicologist from Hong Kong. One night under a full moon, Fred tells Heather the story of Chang'e, the moon goddess. He points out how the shadows form a rabbit pounding an elixir of immortality, but all Heather sees in the moon is a man's face. Returning to her teaching job in Texas, Heather wonders if the whirlwind affair was a moment of madness. She is, after all, forty-five years old, married, a mother and grandmother. Rabbit in the Moon follows Heather and Fred's relationship as well as Heather's challenges with multiple mid-life reinventions, such as moving to Hawaii, entering a Ph.D. program, and living in a dorm with students half her age. When Fred goes on sabbatical, Heather finds herself on the Hong Kong island of Cheung Chau with his large, boisterous family. For an independent, reserved American, adjusting isn't easy. 42

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Moving between Hawaii, Hong Kong, and the continental US, Rabbit in the Moon is an honest, finely crafted meditation on intercultural marriage, the importance of family, and finding the courage to follow your dreams.— Camphor Press “Diamond is the ideal travel companion for both life and love on any shore—witty, self-deprecating, and observant.” —Joelle Fraser, author of Territory of Men and The Forest House "Has all the ingredients of the best memoirs: an exotic setting, quirky characters, and cultural discord ultimately redeemed by love and acceptance." -Claire Chao, author of Remembering Shanghai (Writer's Digest Grand Prize winner) "Insightful, upbeat and written with humour in eloquent prose." -Karen Ma, Asian Cha "A great read. Authentic and beautifully written." -Noreen Mir, RTHK's 123 Show ISSUE NO 14

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The Kimono Tattoo Rebecca Copeland

"I jostled her shoulder and noticed when I did that her skin was cold to the touch....her entire torso was covered in tattoos from her collar bone to the midline of her thighs. All were of kimono motifs-fans, incense burners, peonies, and scrolls." This ghastly scene was the last thing Ruth Bennett expected to encounter when she agreed to translate a novel by a longforgotten Japanese writer. Returning to her childhood home in Kyoto had promised safety, solitude, and diversion from the wounds she encountered in the U.S. But Ruth soon finds the storyline in the novel leaking into her everyday life. Fictional characters turn out to be real, and the past catches up with the present in an increasingly threatening way. As Ruth struggles to unravel the cryptic message hidden in the kimono tattoo, she is forced to confront a vicious killer along with her own painful family secrets.

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

American Judas by Mickey Dubrow For fans of Philip K. Dick's The Man In the High Castle and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. A BLOODLESS RELIGIOUS COUP turns the American dream into an American nightmare where dissenters are jailed. Religious right-wingers rule the land, and those who resist the oppressive theocracy are forced into reeducation camps until they repent or disappear. A young Jewish-Gentile couple desperately navigates the tyrannical new regime by remaining invisible. But after a coworker outs Seth Ginsberg for secretly practicing Judaism, the rising political aide and his feisty wife are left with menacing options, trapped between soul-crushing internment in a Savior Camp or a rugged race for the Mexican border. This timely dystopian thriller will keep readers turning pages and leave them afraid, angry, and thoughtful about America in the 21st Century.

2019 Georgia Author of the Year Awards Nominee for First Novel. ISSUE NO 14

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READING NATION MAGAZINE

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MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

Shortlisted for the 2021 Chanticleer Int'l Book Awards “Just One Look is a compelling story of a woman’s journey to let go of grief and find herself after losing the love of her life. So many women lost husbands or boyfriends to the Viet Nam war. Robbed of the chance to make a life with the men they loved, women trudged on in different ways. This protagonist, Dani, chose a dark path to deal with her loss. Joanne Kukanza Easley has a way with words and was able to capture the 70s in a remarkable manner. I know. I was there and had many friends who lost their men.” 5-star review “Can't put this book down! Just One Look By Joanne Kukanza Easley is a very well written, fast paced book that I couldn't put down till I was finished! The storyline takes place in Chicago (my hometown) from 1965 through 1979, and I loved all the references to actual places I've been to there. Highly recommend this author and both of her books!” 5-star review “…Easley writes a quick paced story of love and redemption. Dani is an engaging character and the reader will cheer her on, through thick and thin. With a satisfying ending, readers are sure to love this timeless story.” 5-star review ISSUE NO 14

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MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

The Poland Trilogy by James Conroyd Martin A 2018 IPPI Gold Medal Winner for Series Push Not the River: Book One - A book club favorite! Anna and Zofia: two cousins, different as sun from shade. One chooses love and patriotism; the other, deceit and treason. And yet, love binds them even as their country hurtles toward the abyss. “Based on a true diary, "Push Not the River contains all the sweep and romance of the classic romantic epics, such as Gone with the Wind and Doctor Zhivago, with a heroine who remains strong in the face of both personal and political tragedy....Anna Maria's story is at once timeless and timely." --India Edghill, author of Queenmaker and Delilah

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“This is a collection theANDbody, of BOOK the CLUB failings of THE INTERNATIONAL PULPWOOD of QUEENS TIMBER GUY history and family. The range is wide and balanced— in geography, in tenderness and trauma, in startling imagery, craft, and heart. Kate Sweeney’s work takes me within and outside myself, making both realms real and seen/felt as if for the first time. In fact, much of the collection feels like entering uncharted territory—and how intriguing to explore it! Here is a master poet and, as the highest compliment, I wish I could write poems like those in Worrisome Creatures.” —Linda Parsons, author of Candescent and This Shaky Earth

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE

“Among the many inspired riffs in Gerry LaFemina’s freewheeling meditation on happiness, nothing impressed me more than the hard-won honesty the author brings to bear on his own foibles, wounds, privileges, and passions. Though he never explicitly says so, his book strongly implies that while honesty cannot guarantee happiness, it does make happiness possible. It has done that much and more for LaFemina.” —Garret Keizer, author of The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want

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The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen WINNER OF THE EUDORA WELTY AWARD FOR FICTION "This rich, enveloping novel draws the reader in and won't let go. For an all too brief time readers will find themselves living in another time, another place. Like Harvey's healing medicine, Barbara's inspiring music, this fiction is a kind of gift as well." Susan Larson. Book Editor, New Orleans Times Picayune "...deeply moving..." Romantic Times - Four Stars "Rich and heartfelt..." Publishers Weekly "You will have to read this one to see just how far one sometimes has to go to discover what it really is that they want in life, what will make them feel complete. A MUST READ"--Beyond Her Book Blog--PublishersWeekly.com "A thought provoking enjoyable story, difficult to put down. Highly recommended." Editor's Choice: Historical Novels Review Historical Novel Society. 54

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

Sharp as a Serpent’s Tooth - Eva and Other Stories by Mandy Haynes "Mandy Haynes writes about the poor and damaged, about simple folks with fire and crazy pulsing through their veins. In the story "Eva" she displays the ugly drippings of an evil soul beside the strength and wisdom of a child. With a warped sense of humor and an eye for sweet revenge, Haynes, in her collection of short stories "Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth," reveals herself to be an emerging talent with a command of southern dialogue and a tendency to create dirt-under-the-fingernails characters. She'll be around for the long haul." Brenda Sutton Rose, author of Dogwood Blues, nominated for 2015 Georgia Author of the Year for First Novel, nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize in Fiction for her short story "Samuel's Wife". "Mandy Haynes captures the authentic southern stories readers love. She writes, not with stereotypes readers can spot from a mile away, but with wisdom which comes from the calloused hands of a great author." Renea Winchester, author of Outbound Train. ISSUE NO 14

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Freedom Lessons: A Novel by Eileen Harrison Sanchez May 17th is the anniversary of Brown v BOE. Honor that decision. Read FREEDOM LESSONS to learn the personal impact of the end of separate but equal. 2020 Story Circle’s Women’s Book Awards, Historical Fiction, Sarton's Shortlist, Chosen as a 2020 Pulpwood Queens Book Club pick 2019, Best Book Awards Finalist in Fiction (Multicultural) “When 'all deliberate speed' becomes 'all of a sudden,' not much changes. An intermittently potent illustration of the formidable obstacles to equality that remained—and persist—post-Brown v. Board of Education.” —Kirkus Reviews “This powerful tale offers a beacon of hope that individuals can inspire change.” —Library Journal “ . . . a deftly crafted novel that, although a work of fiction, is based on the author Eileen Sanchez' personal experience teaching in Louisiana in the late sixties. Freedom Lessons is 56

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READING NATION MAGAZINE BOOKS TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

heartfelt, unflinching novel, and inherently riveting novel about the unexpected effects of school integration during that time takes on the issues our nation continues to face regarding race, unity, and identity.” —Midwest Book Review ”Inspired by the author’s real-life experiences, Freedom Lessons is a candid and nuanced novel about a young Northern woman who spends a year teaching in the 1960s Jim Crow South. In the process, she learns more about herself and her country than she ever expected. Freedom Lessons is illuminating and gripping, and a worthy addition to the literature of the civil rights era.” —Amy Hill Hearth, New York Times and Washington Post best-selling author and recipient of two American Library Association Notable Book citations ”Told in alternating viewpoints, this impressive novel reaches back in time to the early days of school integration, and to a place in America where resistance to integration was substantial.” —Historical Novel Society “…Freedom Lessons reminds us of a dark period in our history, and of the importance of an equal opportunity education for all. A must read for our generation and generations to come.” —Kari Bovee, author of the Annie Oakley Mystery series

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An Open Invitation to A Purposeful Trek for Book Lovers Do you love reading and would love to discuss the books in community, share insights and learn together? There is a new way for book lovers to connect and have conversations. Join multi-award winning indie author Ayelet Baron and Tim McDonald in the Purposeful Trekking book club for a journey of a lifetime! Our first book is Adam Grant’s Give and Take, which has been life changing for so many people. This book helped Tim learn how to give without getting burned out. “I understood that sometimes givers are the worst receivers and I wanted to put what I learned into practice. I can tell you that this one book, and Adam’s insights, inspired me to start giving something every single day for a year. This led me to share more openly and provide lessons I’ve learned from Give and Take with others. Little did I realize, but my lifetime of giving has come back to 58

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READING NATION MAGAZINE AN OPEN INVITATION FROM AYELET BARON

me tenfold as I shared I had an incurable cancer with my community. Now, I spend my time learning to still be a giver AND also a receiver. I guess Adam Grant would say I’ve done a decent job of being a successful giver.” We invited Adam to the book club and he will be with us in spirit as he is on his first sabbatical. Give and Take helps us see a healthy path of connection and generosity in everything we do. We will encounter stories as good as a well-written novel, surprising insights drawn from rigorous science, and advice on using those insights in our own life. If you’ve read the book before, this is a great opportunity to do it in community. “If you read a book the second time, you don’t see something in it you didn’t see before, you see something in yourself that wasn’t there before.” The purposeful trek will continue with Lynnda Pollio’s multiaward winning book, Trusting the Currents, Pulpwood Queen Author Ayelet Baron’s multi-award winning book, F*ck the Bucket List for the Adventurer (Book 2) and many other heart blowing books as we set on our Purposeful Trek. You can also watch our video. And join in the Fable app. The club is $1.99 a month, and the proceeds will go to Tim’s Liver to help offset expenses for his donor, who we are hopeful will appear soon. This is why Give and Take is such a special way to start our ongoing conversation on what is possible in times of transition. We can’t wait to connect with you on Fable! ISSUE NO 14

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Defrosted Cats and Other Fun Facts: An Interview with Marilyn Rothstein I met Marilyn through Kathy L Murphy, THE Pulpwood Queen, at the first Virtual Girlfriend’s Weekend Book Club Convention and it didn’t take but a second to see why Marilyn is a Pulpwood Queen favorite! But don’t take my word for it - see for yourself… How did you get involved with the largest network of book clubs in the world? Originally, through Facebook. Kathy L. Murphy’s dear friend, Tĳuana, saw my wacky posts for Lift and Separate, my debut novel, and invited me to send my book to the Queen. Kathy asked me to be on a panel at the 2019 convention in Jefferson, Texas. Best time ever! I met a slew of readers and authors at the seminars as well as at the evening events. I can’t wait to go in person again. Crazy to Leave You is your third novel. Tell me about your first two books. 60

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READING NATION MAGAZINE MEET MARILYN ROTHSTEIN

My debut novel is Lift and Separate, the story of Marcy Hammer. After thirty-three years of marriage and three children, Marcy’s husband--Harvey the Bra King--leaves her for a size 32-DDD. I guess I wasn’t done torturing Marcy because in my second book, Husbands and Other Sharp Objects, Marcy plans her daughter’s wedding as she plots her own divorce. I named it Husbands and Other Sharp Objects because I believe it is those closest to us who cause us the most pain. They also bring us the most joy, but my books aren’t about that. Are you divorced? No. But my husband wishes I was. I met Alan in an elevator, and we have been married forty-five years. Name a job you held before becoming an author. I demonstrated men’s razors in Macy’s Herald Square. I worked at Seventeen magazine. Also, I owned an advertising agency in Connecticut for twenty-five years. Is it true your cat spent the night in the freezer? One evening, Tuesday (also the name of the cat in Crazy to Leave You) hopped into the bin in the freezer. We found her in the morning, Fortunately, she lived to meow about it. What’s on your night table? My defrosted cat. ISSUE NO 14

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How are your books organized? By default. Besides writing, what’s your favorite thing to do? Sit around the kitchen table with my family. Have you traveled to promote your novels? Yes! Some of the places I visited before the pandemic were Atlanta, Georgia; St. Louis, Missouri; Dallas, Texas, Naples, Jacksonville and Miami, Florida; Toledo, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois. I spent the most time in New York, New Jersey, and New England. My sharp object enjoys traveling. Frequently, he comes along. When I spoke in Miami, a woman raised her hand and asked him, “What’s it like to live with Marilyn. Alan said, “Who’s Marilyn?” Lauren Leo, the protagonist in Crazy to Leave You, is obsessed with her scale. Are you obsessed with your scale? Not at all. But I sleep with it. Did you have to do a lot of research to write Crazy to Leave You? Yes. I overate for decades. What words of advice would you like to share with 62

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READING NATION MAGAZINE MEET MARILYN ROTHSTEIN

aspiring writers? Keep writing and never give up.

“Underlying Rothstein’s signature humor and wry, engaging voice lies the shattering dilemma of every woman who has ever believed that she is not enough—not thin enough, not successful enough, not loved enough. Lauren’s journey to loving herself is one to which we can all relate. I think every book club is going to want this one!” --Kerry Anne King, bestselling author of Other People’s Things "From some of the funniest one-liners I’ve read in years to a cast of all-too-relatable characters, this witty, heartfelt story of one woman’s attempt to live on her own terms after her fiancé leaves her lifted my spirits and reminded me of what a gift it is to have choices—even the kind that take some warming up to. This is exactly the book we all need right now.” --Camille Pagán, bestselling author of I’m Fine and Neither Are You ISSUE NO 14

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Reading Pat Conroy in Japan Suzanne Kamata

At the age of twenty-two, I set out from South Carolina for Japan with a copy of Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide in my suitcase. I was about to spend a year as an assistant English teacher on the island of Shikoku on the governmentsponsored JET Program. I had no teaching experience, so I intended to consult Conroy’s memoir of educating underprivileged African American children on a South Carolina barrier island for inspiration. Of course, Tokushima Prefecture in the late 1980s, where I was assigned, was not exactly late 1960s Yamacraw (actually, Daufuskie) Island. 64

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Japan was, by then, a highly educated, sophisticated, and wealthy country. Yet, the students that I expected to meet had had little or no contact with white foreigners, just as Conroy’s students had had little experience of the white people who lived on the “mainland” of Beaufort and beyond. My first experience of reading Conroy was The Lords of Discipline at the age of sixteen. I checked the book out of the local public library in Grand Haven, Michigan, after coming across a review of it. I recall being immersed in Conroy’s lush prose during spring break while sprawled across a bed in my grandparent’s trailer in Bradenton, Florida. In my diary, I wrote, “Finished reading The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, an excellent book. The writing and imagery were remarkable. I think about possible story plots and situations all the time. My deep thinking is not something common, it’s of a writer. Or so I hope. Sometimes I feel so different.” A few months later, just before my last year of high school, my family moved to South Carolina due to my dad’s job. I was already a little in love with the state due to Conroy’s prose. I remember my first sight of the Citadel’s white turrets, and the cadets in uniform who were oh-so polite. As an English major at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, I didn’t have much time to read outside the syllabi. But once I’d graduated, I picked up The Prince of Tides. I devoured it on the plane to Boston, where I was going to meet my then-boyfriend’s mother, and two of his sisters. His family was large and Irish-Catholic, like Conroy’s. His mother was an intimidating woman. She’d ISSUE NO 14

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raised her six kids pretty much by herself, then gone on to become a lawyer. The kids were, or were on their way to becoming doctors, bankers, lawyers. When she noticed the book I’d been reading and asked about it, I couldn’t believe she’d never heard of Pat Conroy. I began to rave about his gorgeous writing. Later, at dinner in an expensive restaurant with my boyfriend, his mother, and her companion who happened to be the cousin of my favorite actor, I was asked what I planned to do in the future. I mentioned that I wanted to be an editor of literary fiction. “What do you mean by ‘literary?’” my boyfriend’s mother asked. I tried to explain that the words were important, more than the plot, that I was interested in beauty. I stumbled over my answer, already aware that being an editor would not be sufficient to impress. Editors didn’t make a lot of money. “Do you mean like that book you showed me?” she asked. “The one by Pat Conroy? Yes!” My boyfriend changed the subject. He seemed to be embarrassed by me. We broke up at the end of summer. A year later, I was bound for Tokushima. I had asked to be sent to a small town because I wanted to experience “real Japan.” I figured that while the large cities of the world have their own unique characteristics, they are similar in many ways, with the same chain stores, the same cultural mixes, and it is easy to remain in a Western bubble. Shikoku, as I would soon find out, was remote, but it had many surprising similarities to South Carolina. They are at about the same 66

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latitude, so the weather is pretty much the same – sultry in summer, and mild in winter. Both have wisteria, azaleas, palm trees, sea turtles, and wild boar. Both have small islands off the coast. In both places, people drink tea and are known for their hospitality. Both are bashed with hurricanes/ typhoons on a regular basis. On the day that Hurricane Hugo wreaked havoc on the Carolina coast, I met the Japanese physical education teacher who would become my husband. We were at a gathering organized by a mutual friend. On one of our first dates, I suggested that we go to see the movie version of The Prince of Tides which was called “South Carolina” in Japan. Later, I would bring him to the state with me for an actual visit, although the first time I attempted this, I accidentally booked him a ticket to Bogota, Colombia. (The travel agent had misunderstood me; this was before the internet.) I was in love and I wanted to marry this man, but first, I had to figure out if it was possible for me to have a literary life in the boondocks of Japan. I decided to try. After leaving the JET Program, I found a new job at a local Board of Education teaching elementary school children and adults English. I found a desk and chair set out for garbage pick-up in reasonable condition, and carried then up five flights of stairs to my apartment. There, I began to write a romance novel set in South Carolina. I started to submit the short stories that I had written in college to literary journals across the ocean, always including a self-addressed stamped envelope for the replies. My first literary publication was a short story, “France,” published in Half Tones to Jubilee at ISSUE NO 14

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Pensacola Community College. I also managed to place a story about a waitress at a South Carolina truck stop in Printed Matter, a journal published in Tokyo. Having come across a few English-language literary journals in Japan, I decided to start one of my own. I put out calls for submissions, asked one of my adult students to design a cover, and published the first issue of Yomimono (translation: reading material). Through this project, I managed to connect with other writers in Japan, becoming part of a community of sorts. Then I decided to try to publish an anthology of stories by foreigners in Japan. I sent out one query letter – to Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which specialized in books about Japan – and received a positive reply. Convinced that I could indeed have a literary life in Japan, I married the P.E. teacher. A few years later, we bought a house, and it is there on the second floor, were we had wide windows looking out upon our neighbor’s garden, and the river beyond where I remember reading Beach Music. Again, I reveled in Conroy’s gorgeous prose, and the depths of feeling, the epic scope of his storytelling. Around this time, I started writing a novel set in South Carolina. I wasn’t ready to write about Japan yet; I was still absorbing the culture, still learning. And maybe I was a bit homesick. Inspired by my love of 1960s Motown girl groups, especially The Supremes; Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, by Joyce Carol Oates; the Riot Grrrl movement in the Pacific Northwest; and my own youthful experiences, I began writing a story about an all-girl punk rock band in 68

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1980s Columbia, South Carolina. I called it The Screaming Divas. Although I finished the novel shortly after having twins, and signed with a prominent literary agent, the book didn’t sell. “Since you’re over there, why don’t you write about Japan?” the literary agent suggested. My next novel, Losing Kei, about an American woman in Tokushima who loses custody of her biracial son and tries to get him back, was the first novel that I published. Having a couple of books in print enabled me to get part-time teaching jobs at local universities. One of these was a teacher’s college. I sometimes showed the students “Conrack,” the movie version of The Water is Wide to encourage them to think about their future profession and to teach them about my home state. I discovered that My Losing Season had been translated into Japanese. I bought a copy and loaned it out to ISSUE NO 14

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students. Japan is a country that cheers for the underdog. Many fathers are strict, many school rules rigid. I thought that they would be able to relate. I edited a couple more anthologies, and wrote a few more books, for young adults and middle grade readers. But from time to time, I would revisit my earlier manuscripts, and revise them. When I heard that the University of South Carolina Press was launching a new fiction imprint, Story River Books, to be edited by Pat Conroy, I submitted The Screaming Divas. To my surprise, I received a lengthy reply from Pat and Jonathan Haupt, who was the director of USC Press. Pat wrote: I wanted to like ‘The Screaming Divas’ more than I did and I believe I know what made it not work for me. A girls’ punk band out of Columbia in the eighties excited me and whetted my appetite for wildness and nihilism and drugs. The book delivered on all of that, but there is a caveat that I always warn young writers about. It’s almost impossible to make sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll interesting to anyone who was not there or who did not live deeply in that period—unless the writer can bring the characters to bewildering, stunning life where they burn into the readers consciousness as their songs and passion blaze out in the Columbia nights. I liked the four leads very much, but I failed to love them…Suzanne is a very good writer, but I loved her song lyrics in the book more than her storytelling. I would look for that same intensity and precision in her prose. But I enjoyed my time 70

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with the Divas. Although it wasn’t an acceptance letter, it was clear that these two men had carefully read my story and that they had excellent ideas of how I could improve it. Jonathan offered suggestions of books that I should read, and Pat recommended restructuring the novel. Their vision took my breath away. It was both daunting and exciting. Even now, it remains the best editorial letter I have ever received in my life. It’s still possible that I will someday undertake the major revisions that these two brilliant editors proposed, but in the meantime, I got an offer of publication from Jacquelyn Mitchard for her young adult line, Merit Press. I took Pat’s advice to add more of a sense of place to heart, and incorporated other suggestions, and I wound up publishing the book as Screaming Divas, with Mitchard as editor. It was named to the ALA Rainbow List, and featured on MTV.com, and I was proud of it, but I still thought of that other book that it could have been. I vowed that I would write another novel especially for Story River Books, just so that I would have a chance to work with Jonathan and Pat. Maybe it would be The Baseball Widow, which I had been working on for a long time. Or maybe this idea I had about a World War II socialite spy from Aiken. In the meantime, I had always dreamed of being a featured writer at the South Carolina Book Festival. Now that I had written and published a book set in the state, I submitted an application. To my delight, it was accepted. I was invited to ISSUE NO 14

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be on a panel with Nina de Gramont (another favorite writer!) and Jeremy Whitley, discussing strong female characters. Of course, I had to pay my own way, and it was understood that I would not need hotel accommodations because I could stay with my parents. By this time, I was employed full-time in Japan as a university lecturer, with a salary and research budget. I decided to splurge on a hotel room where the other featured authors were staying so that I would be at the center of the action. I was probably the least famous person there, and I felt a bit starstruck. I remember peering out at the rain alongside Leila Meacham, and worrying about her hair, which was perfectly coiffed. I remember riding on a shuttle bus with Jason Mott, whose first novel had been made into a television series, and eating lunch at the same table as, if not exactly with, Ron Rash, as he lamented about New York City editors’ attitudes concerning Southern accents. I recall being charmed by Lee Smith as she sat onstage telling stories, and finding myself standing in close proximity to Gail Godwin as she checked into the hotel. Most of all, I remember leaving my hotel room, a copy of Screaming Divas in hand, and crossing paths with Pat Conroy. He was with a couple of other people, but when he saw me, he was immediately curious. 72

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“Who are you?” he asked. I introduced myself as the author of Screaming Divas. I was so flustered that I dropped the book. “I loved that book,” he said to me, and turned to his companions to rave some more. I was surprised that he even remembered it, and I probably blushed. “Here,” I said, giving him the copy I had in my hands. “This is for you.” He asked me to sign it, and I did. Later, I bought his justpublished memoir, The Death of Santini. The line at his signing table was so long that even after I attended another writer’s hour-long session, there was still a thirty-minute wait. I took my place in the queue. From a distance, I watched as he chatted with each person who approached. When it was my turn, he signed, “To Suzanne Kamata, for the love of books and story. Congratulations on the Screaming Divas.” Two years later, the South Carolina Book Festival was no more. I read on the internet that Pat Conroy had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died shortly thereafter, ISSUE NO 14

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and the Story River Books imprint was discontinued. As you may have guessed, I haven’t yet read all of his books, so I still have something to look forward to, though I regret that I will never have the chance to work with him as an editor. These days, I continue to teach my students about Pat Conroy’s life, and share the story of his teaching on an island off the coast of South Carolina, which is in many ways similar to Twenty-Four Eyes by Sakae Tsuboi, a famous Japanese novel about a teacher and her students on nearby Shodoshima. Pat Conroy was truly a generous soul and I feel privileged to have met him, and to have had him read my work.

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READING NATION MAGAZINE READING PAT CONROY IN JAPAN

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MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE TOO GOOD NOT TO SHARE

We know Deborah Goodrich Royce as the author of Ruby Falls (a Pulpwood Queen Official Pick for 2022), and her great novel - Finding Mrs. Ford. But I found some interesting information on her website that was too good not to share… Deborah was an actress in film and television for ten years. Her big break came with the leading role of Silver Kane, sister of the legendary Erica Kane, on the long running ABC soap opera, All My Children. Deborah went on to star in feature films such as Remote Control, April Fool's Day, and Just One of the Guys, television movies such as Return to Peyton Place, The Deliberate Stranger with Mark Harmon, and Liberace, and television series such as St. Elsewhere, Beverly Hills 90210, and 21 Jump Street. After the birth of her daughters, Deborah moved to Paris in 1992 and worked as a reader for Le Studio Canal Plus. On ISSUE NO 14

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her return to the US, she transitioned to Miramax Films as their story editor. At Miramax, she worked on the development of such films as Emma, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, Walking and Talking by Nicole Holofcener, and early versions of Chicago and A Wrinkle in Time. With writing partner, Mitch Giannunzio, she won a grant from the Massachusetts Arts Council in 2002 to develop and workshop their original screenplay, Susan Taft Has Run Amok. In 2004, Deborah and her husband, Chuck Royce (small cap investment pioneer), restored and reopened the Avon Theatre Film Center, a 1939 landmark in Stamford, CT. The not-forprofit Avon is dedicated to independent, classic, foreign, and documentary films, and hosts an ongoing series of visiting film luminaries. Directors and writers such as Robert Altman, Peter Bogdonavich and Nora Ephron, and actors such as Jane Fonda, Chloe Sevigny, Emma Roberts, and Richard Gere, have all come to the Avon to show their films and talk about their work. The late Gene Wilder, who frequently appeared at the Avon, was an early and avid encourager of Deborah’s writing. Deborah serves on the governing boards of New York Botanical Garden, the Greenwich Historical Society, and the PRASAD Project, and the advisory boards of the American Film Institute, the Greenwich International Film Festival, the Preservation Society of Newport, and the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach. Deborah and Chuck have restored several hotels (Ocean 78

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House—one of only 13 triple Forbes five-star properties in the world—the Weekapaug Inn, and the Deer Mountain Inn), a bookstore (The Savoy in Westerly, RI), and have completed numerous Main Street revitalization projects in Tannersville, New York and Westerly, Rhode Island. They are currently about to break ground on the renovation of the United Theatre arts complex in Westerly. She and her husband have a tribe of children, stepchildren, grandchildren, and animals.

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* TBA Check the Calendar of Events on the PQ Website

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE READING WITH QUEEN MAMA KAT

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THE PULPWOOD QUEENS' TIARA WEARING, BOOK SHARING, GUIDE TO LIFE celebrates female friendship, sisterhood, and the transformative power of reading. It includes life principles and motivational anecdotes, hilarious and heart-warming stories of friendships among the Queens, and stories from Kathy L. Murphy about the books that have inspired her throughout her life, complete with personalized suggested book lists.

MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE TIARA WEARING BOOK SHARING GUIDE TO LIFE

Taken from The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life:

My Top Fifteen Books of All Time: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs Most books I discovered by first watching the film. I fell in love with the Tarzan movies and own all of the books and collect all things Tarzan. Though I never wanted to be saved like Jane, I did want to swing through those vines like Tarzan and save everyone from evil. My childhood superhero was Tarzan, and you haven’t lived until you’ve read one of his jungle adventures. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Again, the film spoke to me in a way that I had never felt before. I felt like I was Scout. When I found out that To Kill a Mockingbird was a book, I read it over and over, cover to cover, and now usually read it once or twice a year. I can see no difference between the book and the film. They are absolutely perfect, and they are my standard for both books and films today. Who wouldn’t want Gregory Peck as their father? He read to Scout and Jem every night before bed, and that’s heaven to me. Before Women Had Wings by Connie May Fowler There are so many lines in this book that spoke directly to my heart that I’ll treasure it always. The one that hooked me from the getISSUE NO 14

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go was “She named both her girl children after birds, her logic being that if we were named for something with wings then maybe we’d be able to fly above the shit in our lives.” My sentiments exactly. My Dog Skip by Willie Morris I’ve loved so many pets in my life that just thinking about Skip makes me cry. Who wouldn’t love a book about a boy who loved his dog and, more importantly, about the dog who loved him unconditionally? Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus My grandmother and grandfather, Mudd and Dirt, were storytellers. I adored them, and those family stories helped shape me and still haunt me. Allan Gurganus wrote a story that captures you and has also haunted me to this day. As I read his pages, I was instantly brought back to a time when I listened to all my family’s stories from Mudd and Dirt. You don’t just read and hear the story; you experience it with all your senses. Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, Jr. I always felt I was the underdog, and nothing appeals to me more than geeky unathletic boys winning full scholarships to college because they strived to do something different like winning the National Science Fair Competition. This is the book for anyone who thinks she can’t when in fact she can. Crazy in Alabama by Mark Childress A woman who dreams 84

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of becoming a star in Hollywood told through the eyes of a child—slight difference in characters, but I lived this tale. I find it very reassuring in reading to find that I’m not alone; there are others who are just like me. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons This is a story of three generations of women all living under the same roof. This book has such meaning for me, as my mother, my grandmother, and the other women in my family were and are always so important in my life. They had such an influence on me, and I would never be who I am today without these women. Kaye Gibbons is one of my favorite authors, and each of her books I hold dear. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell My first viewing of the film Gone With the Wind was with my mother and sisters all piled on the divan with the lights out so we could pretend we were really at the movies. I just loved Scarlett— when I read the book, I was able to recognize that we all make mistakes, sometimes big ones, but life does go on. She was my first woman hero. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams I have read everything written by Tennessee Williams, and I love the way he puts the fun in dysfunctional. I loved all the characters in this book. He taught me that all families have flaws; I always thought mine was the only one that wasn’t perfect. Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya ISSUE NO 14

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Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells I feel as if I personally discovered this writer (I had read the advanced manuscript of her first book prior to publication), though in fact she was bound to become famous no matter what I ever did or said. She has big talent and star charisma! Her books made me realize that we can’t choose our family but we must always love them, forgive them, and try as best we can not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons This 1930 British classic is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It’s about a young woman who dreams of writing like Jane Austen. She decides in order to do so she must experience life first and goes to live with distant relatives in the country. This book may be set in England but reads as Southern as any Southern book I know, an absolute delight. The Great Santini by Pat Conroy To me, the greatest contemporary writer of my time is Pat Conroy. His prose is written with such honesty and longing, I despair on finishing his books. I love all his books, but the story of his father and family helped me to understand my own. The Rich Part of Life by Jim Kokoris This is the most beautiful and moving story about a man becoming a father. The author also has an uncanny ability to both be serious on one hand and amuse the reader to the point of laughing out loud on the other. You’ve got to love a book that moves you and cracks you up at the same time. 86

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The Bible There is no other book I can turn to under any situation that keeps me from being a lost soul. Books have been my closest friends and companions. The Bible has been my saving grace.

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Call me, Figment of My Imagination! Yes, that is my name, Figment of My Imagination. My mama who adopted me named me that because at first, I would not come out of my pet carrier all day when I was delivered to her. Then later, I ran from the pet carrier to run under her cherry dresser in her Valentine office/ entertainment room. It seemed like I was just a figment of her imagination, so she named me a name I would never be able to spell. My Mama loves unusual names. She called me Fig for short, as when I was brought as a rescue kitten to her little cabin in the woods, Murphy’s Law. I was an orphan. Her dear friend and animal rescuer Barbara Deen brought her to my Mama, because you see she knew if she looked at little ole calico me, I would be adopted on sight. Barbara Deen was right, Mama peered down to look at me in that soft cage and said, “Oh, wow, so tiny and how adorable is this kitten. Welcome little one to Murphy’s Law”. Barbara smiled, Mama smiled, and I just 88

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READING NATION MAGAZINE IF OUR PETS COULD TALK

shook because I was so scared. Of course, a lot of the above is only going by what she told me. I don’t remember much as I was too little to remember. She had two other cats, a tabby named Rush, and a gray cat named Ferrelina. Both were rescue cats like me, but they did not like me at all, they did not even like each other. They loved my new Mama though, so I hid. Mama Kat, as her grandson calls her, loves me though. She puts up with my shy ways and talks to me and pets me a lot. I sleep with her every night. Well, we all do on different parts of the bed. Ferrelina likes to sleep on her head, me on one side and Rush on the other. We have now made peace with one another sort of, if I get too wild running around, they bat me on the head. It never hurts though so I have learned to stay my distance. Mama Kat loves animals, she has had her daughter Madeleine’s dog, Leon, come and stay with us. He was big, as part collie/Australian Shepherd. You think I was wild? He barged everywhere banging into everything, breaking a lot. He too liked to sleep with Mama on her bed. It’s a real menagerie here. We had to fight to keep our own space. Mama usually got up and left us to our own devices. She gets up way too early for our tastes, we like to sleep in. Leon does not come anymore because he died suddenly and mysteriously. Mama was very sad as she helped raise him as a puppy. Secretly, we all were pretty happy about it. That Leon was just too big and rambunctious for this tiny cabin. Mama cried and cried when he was found dead on the floor. I truly scared Mama Kat once half to death. She got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and she thought ISSUE NO 14

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what she saw on the floor was a gigantic lizard or part of a snake from the nightlight. She flipped the big light switch on and it was just a long hair ball that I threw up. I think the other cats laughed silently a bit about it as Mama was jumping around trying to figure out how to get rid of that thing. Every day is an adventure here at Murphy’s Law. Today I must tell you this past week has been murder. Mama Kat went and picked up Madeleine’s cat, Luna, who stays with us when Madeleine must go somewhere. This place is just like Grand Central Station with animals. Since we cannot always understand Mama, she just does not talk much at home, it was a big surprise when she walked in with a now full-grown black Luna Belle who and I am not putting this mildly, hell on wheels. No warning!!! That Black cat with its jingle bell all the way collar jumped out of the cat carrier when the zipper was unzipped on the kitchen floor and proceeded 90

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to run us all under Mama’s bed. No amount of coaxing could get any of us out because that cat is a bully. Mama did try to explain to us that Luna was raised as a rescue kitten with three big dogs, Leon and two others, a collie and a standard poodle that were her boyfriend’s dogs. Therefore, Luna thinks she is a dog too and what do dogs do, they chase cats. Guess she thought she was a cattle dog, and we were the cattle. I am surprised she does not bark. Mama is getting tired of sweeping up furballs from our cat fights. So far no one has got hurt except our feelings big time. Mama Kat was practically purring herself the other day when all of us came together to the dish to eat breakfast. Let’s just say we are dealing with the devil himself. We are trying to kill Luna with indifference. Now that we don’t run anymore, what she has taken for entertainment as her biggest pursuit, rather than harassing us, is finding ways to escape outside. Luna slipped out last night when Mama was letting Rush in. Mama did not even notice until about three in the morning. The loudest cat screams, coming mostly from Luna, woke Mama up for her to rush outside to see what was going on. Evidently, there is an even bigger bully that lives next door. Yes, a big ole gigantic tabby was skittering ISSUE NO 14

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around the corner as Mama ran him off with a broom. Luna ran in that open back door and went straight up to nestle in the covers on her corner of the bed. We all settled in and dreamed our kitty cat dreams. Mama Kat, on the other hand was wide awake. She stayed up and starting painting. We have learned that her hours and course of sleep time don’t always coincide with ours. We all know we have a good thing going here, plenty of fun, time to play, toys, and that big ole four poster comfy bed to snuggle warmly against our Mama. Mama Kat has always said if she believed in reincarnation she would like to come back as a cat, any kind, just preferably one that could live with someone like her in a little cabin in the woods. Her book club calls her THE PULPWOOD QUEEN. Mama Kat knows who really rules in this family, we do. She loves on all of us every single day. Me, Fig, the most because I am the baby cat in the family, full grown now living with my adopted family. Perhaps I should say adopted by my Mama. The other cats, the verdict is still out. All I know is I am safe in knowing I am here to 92

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stay. And like my mama who reads out loud to us all the time, will repeat what she says at the end of each book's reading. “And they all lived happily ever after, you see, it’s all about the story my little furballs!” Enough for now, I am going back to that bed and to sleep. Sweet dreams are made of this.

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CALL TO ACTION! FRIDAYS ARE ALL ABOUT OUR READERS! PLEASE JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP - THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL PULPWOOD QUEEN AND TIMBER GUY BOOK CLUB. LOOK FOR THIS GRAPHIC IN THE FEED.

LEAVE A COMMENT IN THE FEED UNDER THE GRAPHIC. 94

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READING NATION MAGAZINE READER RECOGNITION FRIDAYS

READERS INTRODUCE YOURSELF - WE WANT TO GET TO KNOW YOU! TELL US WHO YOU’RE READING AND IF YOU MENTION ONE OF OUR PULPWOOD QUEEN AND TIMBER GUY AUTHORS YOU’LL BE PUT IN A DRAWING FOR SOME BOOKISH SWAG FROM THE PULPWOOD QUEEN HERSELF, KATHY L. MURPHY. AUTHORS MIGHT POP IN WITH SOME SURPRISE GIVEAWAYS! HAVE FUN!

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Upcoming Events For Our Members *Taken from our Calendar of Events All events will be posted on The International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Reading Nation Facebook page and on Kathy L. Murphy's YouTube Channel. We encourage everyone to join us live in 2021. Each event is an opportunity to show support, share stories, and make connections! Join Kathy L. Murphy and special guests every Saturday at 6:30pm CST for The Pulpwood Queen Book to Film Club. Go to the PQ website to see which movie will be discussed. Links to join are posted on our Official PQ Facebook group under Events. Guest Host schedule for The Pulpwood Queen Presents Her Picks: May 2nd – 8th Pamela Binnings Ewen, The Queen of Paris May 9th – 15th Joanne Kukanza Easley, Just One Look May 16th – 22th Carol Van Den Hende, Goodbye Orchid May 23rd – 29th Allison Hong-Merrill, Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops: A Memoir May 30th – June 5th Eleanor Dare 96

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Featured Author Schedule for Tuesday Night Online Book Club Links to join are posted on our Official PQ Facebook group under Events and on the PQ website. May 3rd Pamela Binnings Ewen May 10th Joanne Kukanza Easley May 17th Carol Van Den Hende May 24th Allison Hong-Merrill May 31st Kimberly Brock

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MAY 2022

READING NATION MAGAZINE NETWORKING

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen Street Beaufort, SC 29902 Thursday through Sunday noon-4:00 p.m. Other times available by appointment

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Camp Conroy 2022: June 13th-25th Sponsored By: Pat Conroy Literary Center Camp Location: Beaufort Middle School Summer Camp: Build-A-Book Program For Registration and Submission Guidelines: https:// campconroy2022.eventbrite.com Camp Conroy is sponsored by the Pat Conroy Literary Center in beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina. Camp Conroy is a two-week summer camp providing young campers, ages 8-14, with a hands-on, collaborative program building a book start to finish. Campers work with instructors and special guests to create, revise, and compile their content for their anthology of stories, essays, poems, artwork, sculpture, and photographs. Campers also review outside submissions from young creatives who wish to submit their works for consideration and potential publication. Campers focus on editing, revision, production, and building a book mock-up in preparation for their final Camp Reading and Reception as well as the book’s final print delivery for publication. Camp Conroy 2022 is celebrating its fifth year and registration will open on March 15, 2022. For young creatives interested in submitting to the Camp Conroy Writing & Art Contest, the deadline for submissions is May 31, 2022. 100

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If you’re a member of the International Pulpwood Queen or Timber Guy Book Club and have a story you’d like to share in the READING NATION MAGAZINE, I’d love to hear it. Book Club Reader Members that includes you! 108

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READING NATION MAGAZINE FYI

We love our readers and you will always have a place in the magazine to share your news. I’m looking for pets to feature on our If Our Pets Could Talk page, authors’ art, photos of your local bookstores, and libraries. Fun content and free advertising if you’re an author - win-win.

As of April 29th Reading Nation Magazine has received a total of 96K views! PQ & TG authors - standard pages to advertise your books start at $25. $50 pages include customized graphics that are shared with 12K readers over several social media sites. This is a great way for our new authors to introduce yourselves to the community and get your books in front of readers! If you’d like to submit your stories, send an email to readingnationmagazine@gmail.com.

If you’d like to place an order or read more about the advertising options go here

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WHEN YOU PURCHASE YOUR FAVORITE PULPWOOD QUEEN OR TIMBER GUY AUTHORS BOOKS HERE, EMAIL KATHY AT THEPULPWOODQUEEN@GMAIL.COM SHE MAY HAVE SOME SWAG FROM THE AUTHOR FOR YOU!

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Looking for some fun gifts for yourself or a book-lover in your life? Visit the New Swag Shop

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OFF THE PAGE with RIVER JORDAN

Dear Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys, So, I was thinking about you guys and how when I came to PWQ weekend you would beg me to tell stories that were off the page. That is – I have loved how you have loved my novels and other books – but I got such a kick out of the whole – just tell us another story, River. About your cousins, about the creek, about snakes, old boyfriends, hap and happenstance, travels and travails. And I thought it would be such good fun to celebrate this long-standing relationship we have and all the memories you’ve given me by sharing with you stories that have nothing to do with my books or current writing projects or the publishing business. Just crazy, fun, real stories about life off the page. What’s really going on behind that writerly façade. Well, I’ll tell you. Chaos. That’s what goes on. My youngest son says I’m a chaos magnet and 114

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wherever I go chaos breaks out and I say that is not so, not so. But before I can get away from him something has happened, broken, broken out. Chaos, he says, is your middle name. You are the Queen of Chaos. Not so, I swear again. And besides if there was such a title I swear I’d share it with PWQ author Shellie Rushing Tomlinson because I spent two weeks on the road on book tour with her and I know what happened the first thirty minutes before we could even get out of the parking lot. She lost her new, expensive camera. Then found it. But by then I had lost my cell phone. And, then found it. But before we could get in the car, Shellie had lost her cell phone. Then one of us lost our sunglasses. We were standing still mind you. Parked in the parking lot of the infamous Loveless Café in Nashville which was our taking off point before we shot down the Natchez Trail to our first bookstore in Tupelo. We really didn’t know each other very well. Really – not much at all. I remember us sitting in the front seat of the jeep trying to catch our breath from the last 30 mins of chaos and Shellie saying. I knew I was like this but I thought one of us would be the person to keep things together and that it would be you. Now, I see that is not going to happen. Nope, it wasn’t and it didn’t. We lost things and found things in twenty-one cities. Survived and carried on. And, I’d like to add – stayed calm about losing all these things. Staying calm in the middle of your off the page chaos is one of the special powers you need to develop if your life involves many, many instances where people say – well, you are just going to get a great story out of this. I always say – I don’t need any more ISSUE NO 14

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story material. I just need to get from point A to Point B without the police showing up, a firetruck rolling up with sirens on, or an ambulance being called. I type these words with my right foot propped up over my head because it looks like an elephant foot and is black, blue, purple and some other colors I can’t identify. Apparently, I thought I could fly while searching in a panic for my dog and managed to miss not one but two steps and came down hard to a resounding crack. The dog came back smiling and filthy an hour later. He was trying to tell me stories of his adventures but I wasn’t in the mood to listen. So here we go, off to new adventures off the page and straight into real life. Thank you for being you and letting me still be me up all the mountains, down all the valleys and through all these years.

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READING NATION MAGAZINE OFF THE PAGE WITH RIVER JORDAN

River Jordan is an author, speaker, teacher and radio host. As a southerner with a global perspective she is a passionate advocate for the power of story. River's writing career began as a playwright and she spent over ten years writing and directing. She is the best-selling author of four novels and a three spiritual memoirs. As a critically-acclaimed author her work has been most frequently cast in the company of such writers as Flannery O'Conner, William Faulkner, and Harper Lee. Ms. Jordan lives on a hill just beyond Nashville city limits surrounded by her wild, southern family. When not on the road you'll find her on her porch at night watching the moon move through the star-filled sky and contemplating all manner of things human and divine. "River Jordan writes with the lyricism and grace of a gospel hymn, and the tales that weave through Sugar Baby ring like the chorus of a choir, rising and falling and then rising again, like all good sinners do." Michael Farris Smith, author of Nick and Blackwood Instagram - RiverJordanInk Facebook - RiverJordanInk Twitter- RiverJordanInk

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READING NATION MAGAZINE Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman

Gold Award in the Regional Fiction (Europe) category of the 2020 IPPY Awards, Gold Medal in the Fiction-Literary category of the 2020 Readers' Favorite Book Awards, Silver Award in the Audiobook: Fiction category of the 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards "Teitelman paints an intensely beautiful world in which different cultures merge in surprising ways. . . . A rich and moving story about an unlikely pair." --Kirkus Reviews In 1923, seventeen-year-old Esther Grünspan arrives in Köln "with a hardened heart as her sole luggage." Thus begins a twenty-twoyear journey, woven against the backdrops of the European Holocaust and the Hindu Kali Yuga (the "Age of Darkness" when human civilization degenerates spiritually), in search of a place of sanctuary. Throughout her travails, using cunning and shrewdness, Esther relies on her masterful tailoring skills to help mask her Jewish heritage, navigate war-torn Europe, and emigrate to India. Esther's traveling companion and the novel's narrator is Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God worshipped by millions for his abilities to destroy obstacles, bestow wishes, and avenge evils. Impressed by Esther's fortitude and relentless determination, born of her deep-though unconscious--understanding of the meaning and purpose of love, Ganesha, with compassion, insight, and poetry, chooses to highlight her story because he recognizes it is all of our stories--for truth resides at the essence of its telling. Weaving Eastern beliefs and perspectives with Western realities and pragmatism, Guesthouse for Ganesha is a tale of love, loss, and spirit reclaimed. ISSUE NO 14

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READING NATION MAGAZINE May 2022

Articles inside

Decanted by Linda Sheehan

Sharp as a Serpent’s Tooth - Eva and Other Stories by Mandy Haynes

The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen

American Judas by Mickey Dubrow

The Kimono Tattoo by Rebecca Copeland

Purple Lotus by Veena Rao

Nowhere Near Goodbye by Barbara Conrey

Beyond the Song by Carol Selick

Oliver by Mandy Haynes

The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney

TOO GOOD NOT TO SHARE

The Poland Trilogy by James Conroyd Martin

Just One Look by Joanne Kukanza Easley

Rabbit in the Moon by Heather Diamond

The Memory of Flight by Debra Bowling

Death by Poison by Abigail Keam

The Visiting Girl by Madge Walls

Other People's Things by Kerry Anne King

Patricia Sands

Just One Look by Joanne Kukanza Easley

Goodbye, Orchid: To Love Her, He Had To Leave Her by Carol Van Den Hende

Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops: A Memoir by Allison Hong Merrill

What Happens in East Texas, Stays in East Texas Jamie Ford

An Open Invitation to A Purposeful Trek for Book Lovers

Reading Pat Conroy in Japan Suzanne Kamata

Freedom Lessons: A Novel by Eileen Harrison Sanchez

Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman

The Queen of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel by Pamela Binnings Ewen

OFF THE PAGE with RIVER JORDAN

Defrosted Cats and Other Fun Facts: An Interview with Marilyn Rothstein

READING NATION MAGAZINE May Issue