Connections
Jacqueline Wein, 2016
Two Harbors Press
406 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781635050172
Summary
When their beloved pets are threatened, a group of ordinary New Yorkers find surprising new connections.
Contrary to the dazzling wealth, glitz and glamour portrayed in the media, the Upper East Side of Manhattan is not only glass penthouses, hedge fund managers, and $500 dinners. There are also ordinary side streets where hard-working singles rent, where roommates split expenses, where elderly women live orderly lives.
For many of them, home means a loving animal, the steadfast presence that shares a life, hears a secret, heals a hurt, claims the heart.
Manhattanite senior citizen Rosa Bassetti is determined to find out who is behind an anonymous note threatening Princess, the arthritic poodle who has claimed her heart. And her neighbors are ready to help. Manhattan’s Upper East Side isn’t all glitz and glamour.
Wein shows us the unique Connections that are made in Manhattan’s aging brownstones, tree-lined streets and pre-war buildings, where an intriguing cast of New Yorkers—a same-sex couple, a tough social worker finding love, a troubled boy, a lonely office manager—come together through their love for animals. By joining forces, can they stop a terrifying menace? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—April 29, 1938
• Born—The Bronx, New York City; raised in Queens, New York City
• Education—Queens College
• Currently—lives in New York City and Florida
Jacqueline Wein spent a long and hectic career in a New York City advertising agency. Outside the office, she penned her first book, Roommate, a suspense novel published by Crown. Since retiring, she has written Connections, about a different kind of roommate—the animals we love.
Jacqueline enjoys splitting her time between New York City and Florida. So does her beautiful cat, Asia. (From the publisher.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Wein creates a varied and well-developed casts of characters in this Manhattan-set novel with a mystery element.… [T]he book’s strength lies in Wein’s portrayal of her characters’ deep connections with the animals in their lives.
Publishers Weekly
Connections crisscrosses New York City as it takes us into the lives of its half dozen or so beautifully developed characters...and her skill at suspense and pacing is on full display here, as well. This is a special treat for anyone who loves animals (5-Stars).
Amazon Customer Review
Discussion Questions
1. How strong are the bonds between people and their pets?
2. How do pets fill lonely lives, especially in the elderly?
3. How can seniors remain active and interested in their community and still have FUN?
4. What provision(s) can single people make for their pets for when they’re no longer here to take care of them?
5. What can be done to re-home and save local shelter animals?
6. How can people get involved in changing all shelters to no-kill facilities?
7. What are some ways that people can and do use animals for emotional support and therapy?
8. What can individuals do to protect the world’s wildlife?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Miss Jane
Brad Watson, 2016
W.W. Norton
224 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780393241730
Summary
Nominated, 2016 National Book Awards
Astonishing prose brings to life a forgotten woman and a lost world in a strange and bittersweet Southern pastoral.
Since his award-winning debut collection of stories, Last Days of the Dog- Men, Brad Watson has been expanding the literary traditions of the South, in work as melancholy, witty, strange, and lovely as any in America.
Inspired by the true story of his own great-aunt, he explores the life of Miss Jane Chisolm, born in rural, early-twentieth-century Mississippi with a genital birth defect that would stand in the way of the central "uses" for a woman in that time and place—namely, sex and marriage.
From the country doctor who adopts Jane to the hard tactile labor of farm life, from the highly erotic world of nature around her to the boy who loved but was forced to leave her, the world of Miss Jane Chisolm is anything but barren.
Free to satisfy only herself, she mesmerizes those around her, exerting an unearthly fascination that lives beyond her still. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 24, 1955
• Where—Meridian, Mississippi, USA
• Education—B.A., Mississippi State University; M.A., University of Alabama
• Awards—(below)
• Currently—lives in Laramie, Wyoming
Brad Watson teaches creative writing at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. His first collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men, won the Sue Kauffman Award for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts & Letters; his first novel, The Heaven of Mercury, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and his Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. (From the publisher .)
Book Reviews
Brad Watson delivers delightful descriptions that will bring great joy to readers of his new book, Miss Jane. The novel has been nominated for the National Book Award, so you will not be alone in wanting extra time to re-read parts, often entire paragraphs, to savor the author’s stunning rhythm and language. READ MORE.
Fiona Lawrence - LitLovers
[The] complexity and drama of Watson’s gorgeous work here is life's as well: Sometimes physical realities expand us, sometimes trap; sometimes heroism lies in combating our helplessness, sometimes in accepting it. A writer of profound emotional depths, Watson does not lie to his reader, so neither does his Jane. She never stops longing for a wholeness she may never know, but she is determined that her citizenship in the world, however onerous, be dragged into the light and there be lived without apology or perfection or pity.
Amy Grace Loyd - New York Times Book Review
Watson infuses the story with curiosity, uncertainty, and, not unlike Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex, a certain wildness.... The book plays on the tongue like an oyster―first salty, then cold―before slipping away to be consumed and digested.
Aditi Sriram - Washington Post
[Jane’s] fearless acceptance of what sets her apart is profoundly human, and her lifelong struggle to understand her place in the world reflects the intricate workings of our own mysterious hearts.
Gina Webb - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the most spot-on, most poetic renderings of Southern vernacular this side of Charles Portis. In his hands, Miss Jane becomes an epic of a small survivor. As with fellow Mississippian William Faulkner, Watson's humble characters prevail because they endure.
Ben Steelman - Wilmington (NC) Star News
[T]he affecting, nuanced story of a girl who “did not fear her own strangeness.” ... The story of Jane’s lonely, lovely life is more powerful because of its emotional reserve. With the exception of several stagey confrontations involving Jane’s older, coarser sister, Grace, Watson lets his ethereal heroine retain her quiet, dignified air of mystery.
Publishers Weekl
(Starred review.) [Watson] dedicates his second novel to his great-aunt Mary Ellis "Jane" Clay, who as reimagined here lived a full and admirable life despite a severe limitation.... [With] beautifully precise prose, we are both absorbed and humbled. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal
Jane's strange yet beautiful spirit possesses a haunting, anachronistic beauty. Miss Jane is a truly original novel with a character that readers will cherish. Watson has delivered a striking and unforgettable portrait.
BookPage
If the novel has a flaw, it's a lack of traditional drama. Jane approaches life with quiet determination, so her acceptance of her own limitations ultimately becomes a strength and not a weakness. A well-written portrait of a person whose rich inner life outstrips the limits of her body.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We;ll add publisher's questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Miss Jane...then take off on your own:
1. Why might Brad Watson have opened the book with the prologue listing what frightens and doesn't frighten Jane? What, if anything, does the opening contribute to your understanding of Jane? In what way, say, does the prologue set a tone for the book?
2. How would you describe Jane Chisholm? What is her condition? What inner strengths does she draw on? As she grows into adolescence, what is it like for her to be denied romantic involvement?
3. We learn of the night Jane was conceived: her father drunk on whiskey, her mother unconscious on laudanum, and whatever love they might have felt for one another had been worn away. How, perhaps, is that unfortunate night a foreshadowing device for Jane's subsequent birth and life?
4. Jane learns to isolate herself from embarrassment. She finds solace in the fields and woods. What does the natural world teach her, or offer her? Mushrooms, for instance: what is the attraction the fungal world holds for Jane?
5. What is Jane's relationship with her family—her parents and sister Grace?
6. How does Dr. Thompson help Jane understand and even exceed her limitations? He tells her, "Just as the way you are denies you some things, it also gives you license that others may not have. What does he mean. He also says to her, "In my opinion you live on a higher moral ground." How so? Do you agree?
7. One of the thematic concerns posed by the book is the questions of where heroism lies. Is heroism in fighting against one's physical limitations or accepting them. What do you think?
8. Had you been born with Jane's physical condition, back before it was operable as it is today, how might you have fared? Or this question: how would you have coped as a parent?
9. The author of Miss Jane is a man, writing about a girl and later young woman, a character based to some extent on his great aunt. Does Watson successfully channel a female voice, especially an unusual one, such as Jane's?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
As Good as Gone
Larry Watson, 2016
Algonquin Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781616205713
Summary
Calvin Sidey is always ready to run, and it doesn’t take much to set him in motion. As a young man, he ran from this block, from Gladstone, from Montana, from this country. From his family and the family business. He ran from sadness, and he ran from responsibility. If the gossip was true, he ran from the law.
It’s 1963, and Calvin Sidey, one of the last of the old cowboys, has long ago left his family to live a life of self-reliance out on the prairie.
He’s been a mostly absentee father and grandfather until his estranged son asks him to stay with his grandchildren, Ann and Will, for a week while he and his wife are away. So Calvin agrees to return to the small town where he once was a mythic figure, to the very home he once abandoned.
But trouble soon comes to the door when a boy’s attentions to seventeen-year-old Ann become increasingly aggressive and a group of reckless kids portend danger for eleven-year-old Will.
Calvin knows only one way to solve problems: the Old West way, in which scores are settled and ultimatums are issued and your gun is always loaded.
And though he has a powerful effect on those around him—from the widowed neighbor who has fallen under his spell to Ann and Will, who see him as the man who brings a sudden and violent order to their lives—in the changing culture of the 1960s, Calvin isn’t just a relic; he’s a wild card, a danger to himself and those who love him. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1947
• Raised—Bismark, North Dakota, USA
• Education—B.A., M.F.A., Unversity of North Dakota; Ph.D., University of Utah
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Milwaukee, Wisoconsin
Larry Watson was born in 1947 in Rugby, North Dakota. He grew up in Bismarck, North Dakota, and married his high school sweetheart. He received his BA and MFA from the University of North Dakota, his Ph.D. from the creative writing program at the University of Utah, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Ripon College. Watson has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1987, 2004) and the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Watson is the author of several novels and a chapbook of poetry. His fiction has been published in more than ten foreign editions, and has received numerous prizes and awards. Montana 1948, published in 1993, was nominated for the first IMPAC Dublin International Literary Prize. The movie rights to Montana 1948 and Justice have been sold to Echo Lake Productions and White Crosses has been optioned for film. His most recent novel, As Good as Gone was released in 2016.
He has published short stories and poems in Gettysburg Review, New England Review, North American Review, Mississippi Review, and other journals and quarterlies. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and other periodicals. His work has also been anthologized in Essays for Contemporary Culture, Imagining Home, Off the Beaten Path, Baseball and the Game of Life, The Most Wonderful Books, These United States, and Writing America.
Watson taught writing and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for 25 years before joining the faculty at Marquette University in 2003.
Awards
Milkweed National Fiction Prize,
Mountains and Plains Bookseller Award,
Friends of American Writers Award,
Banta Award,
Critics Choice Award,
ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults Winner
(Author bio from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
There’s a plainspoken toughness to this writer...that has led to him be overlooked in the large herd of fine Montana novelists. As Good As Gone is the latest of his books to forge satisfying drama from the intersection of Western mystique and middle-class reality. Mr. Watson points up some grubby truths behind the archetypal Western tale of the loner who comes to town and dispenses rough justice.... As Good As Gone is nuanced rather than explosive, and its traces of heroism are found not in violence but in a show of restraint.
Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal
Watson is a naturally gifted storyteller, plainspoken and unpretentious...excellent at building suspense, and As Good as Gone is frequently exciting in a cinematic sense.... And even though the novel isn't perfect, Watson is a generous writer, and his love of the West and the people who live there shines through.”
Michael Schaub - NPR.org
[T]he virile, enigmatic character of Calvin, Watson...[and the] wistful territory covered here will be familiar to Watson’s fans.... A master of spare, economical storytelling, Watson sweeps us up in a captivating family drama that departs as quickly as it came, leaving us gratified yet hungry for more.
Seattle Times
Whether Watson is describing the inside of a 1952 Ford Tudor, a homey tree-lined street in Missoula, an afternoon branding a herd of cattle...he writes evocatively and with great persuasion. This book is vintage Watson: laconic, dramatic and tough as a dry Montana stream bed.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
[A] remarkable novel. It is like watching the sunrises over the prairies of Montana about which Watson writes so eloquently. But as with the reward of the lavender-and golden-hued sky to come, the ultimate effect of this novel is well worth the time spent watching.
New York Journal of Books
Fans of Larry Watsonwill recognize his mastery of foreshadowing.... And when [all] erupts, readers are in for a heart-pounding read. Watson keeps readers speculating until the end of this tense, fast-paced story of family drama as modern times clash with Old West mores.
Shelf Awareness
[An] excellent family drama from Watson....a very well done novel in which every character faces an individual conflict, resulting in a rich, suspenseful read.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [S]tunning.... Having received numerous awards for his fiction, Watson is sure to win more praise for his powerful characterizations in the manner of Kent Haruf and Ivan Doig. Readers won't get a novel any better than this. —Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Watson has written rich, sometimes heartbreaking novels...featuring resolute men and women whose very strength of character...has left them ill-equipped to deal with emotional turmoil. So it is for Calvin Sidey.... Fine writing in the grand western tradition of William Kittredge and Mark Spragg.
Booklist
Calvin's "capacity for ferocity," deserves a Clint Eastwood performance. Watson's powerful characterizations frame large and connected themes: family loyalty, the conflicting capacities of love, and the tenuous connections between humans.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add the publisher's questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for As Good as Gone...then take off on your own:
1. What kind of man is Calvin Sidey? In what way does he adhere to—and break with—the archetypal cowboy hero of classic Western novels and films?
2. Why does Calvin agree to return to Gladstone and care for his grandchildren? He himself doesn't understand why:
Hadn't he banished long ago any feelings of obligation to others? Did he say yes simply because of blood? Could he have said no to anyone but his son? Or is his solitary life less endurable than he believes?
What do you think? Does Cal come to realize why by the end of the novel?
3. Early in the book, Bill recalls a remark Beverly Lodge once made: "Men—once they have an excuse to go, they're liable to stay gone." While he doesn't think the remark applies to him, he considers other men he knows who delay going home at the end of the day by heading for drinks to the Elks Club or VFW. Does the observation about men have any truth to it (the novel, don't forget, takes place in the 1960s)? Have men changed?
4. Why did Calvin abandon his family? What does it say that he has been on the run for so many years? Even Beverly understands that he "is always ready to run, and it doesn’t take much to set him in motion.” How might Cal be ill-equipped to cope with the mid-20th century?
5. Calvin is an enigmatic character who has a powerful effect on those in Gladstone. What accounts for his reputation?
6. Cal says to his grandson, "Believe me when I say I've sunk a hell of a lot more fence posts than I've roped cattle." What does this comment suggest about the romantic myth of the old west?
7. As Good as Gone follows a mythic plotline: a stranger arrives in town to dispense justice and set things right. If you are familiar with other books or films in the Western genre—or especially with classical Greek mythology—how does this novel follow the mythical outline?
8. Enumerate the various troubles in the Sidey household, which Cal unwittingly walks into. Consider Will's problems with his friends, Anne's ex-boyfriend, and Bill's unfinished business with Lonnie Black Pipe.
9. Why is Marjorie so distrustful of Calvin?
10. Then there's Beverly Lodge: how does her rush to soften Cal help her discover something hidden within herself?
11. Talk about the novel's ending. How do the characters change, or grow, and what do they come to understand about themselves and the obligations of family?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
All the Missing Girls
Megan Miranda, 2016
Simon & Schuster
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501107962
Summary
A nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse.
It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace.
Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.
The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.
Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.
Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Megan Miranda is the author of several books for young adults, including Fracture, Hysteria, Vengeance, and Soulprint. She grew up in New Jersey, attended MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.
All the Missing Girls is her first novel for adults. Follow @MeganLMiranda on Twitter, or visit MeganMiranda.com. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Intricately plotted…. Ms. Miranda brings heightened suspense and a twist to this familiar scenario by telling the story, which unfolds over 15 days, in reverse chronological order.
New York Times
Are you paying attention? You'll need to be; this thriller will test your brain with its reverse chronological structure, and it's a page-turner to boot.
Elle
Looking for the next Gone Girl? All the Missing Girls is heir apparent…a book that you can't help but whip through, and Miranda is a master of leaving just enough tantalizing clues to keep you from pausing between chapters. Particularly as you get toward the end and realize the role that Nic and her brother may have played in the disappearances of both young women—and how sometimes accidents and malevolent intent collide—it becomes increasingly difficult to tear your eyes from the page.
Refinery 29
(Starred review.) [A] fiendishly plotted thriller.... Miranda convincingly conjures a haunted setting..., but what really makes this roller-coaster so memorable is her inspired use of reverse chronology, so that each chapter steps further back in time, dramatically shifting the reader’s perspective.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [A] carefully crafted and riveting thriller that is narrated in reverse chronological order, a tense and unusual reading experience that both disorients and intrigues. Readers will obsessively read backward day by day to uncover gradually the surprise ending. —Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Library Journal
Darkly nostalgic.... Miranda takes a risk by telling the story backward, but it pays off with an undroppable thriller, plenty of romantic suspense, and a fresh take on the decades-old teenage-murder theme.
Booklist
Miranda's thriller, told backward over a two-week period.... The chronology is frustrating, the characters are bland, and the plotting is sloppy. Feel free to give these missing girls a miss.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Consider the epigraphs printed ahead of each part of the story. Why do you think the author chose these epigraphs? What do they reveal about the major themes of the book, and how do they help to unify the various sections?
2. Who narrates the story? Is he or she a reliable narrator? Why or why not? How do the choices in narration support a dialogue about how we come to understand or believe the stories we are told and how we determine what is or is not the truth? For instance, how might our understanding of the story be different if the author had chosen to employ more than one narrator or a different narrator?
3. Why does Nicolette Farrell return to Cooley Ridge? What is her experience of homecoming like? What seems to be the same about the town and the people in it and what seems to be different? How has Nicolette changed or not changed since her time growing up in Cooley Ridge?
4. Consider the motifs of myth and superstition in the story. Who is the monster in the woods? What does the story seem to suggest about how myth and superstition shape our fears and sense of what is—and is not—menacing?
5. Who is responsible for the disappearance of Corinne Prescott? Explain. How are the victims of each disappearance treated? How do the people in town react to their disappearances? What roles do reputation, gossip, opinion seem to play in the investigations?
6. Why do you think the author chose to tell the story in reverse? How did the reverse telling of the story affect your interpretation of the situation and your assessment of the characters therein?
7. Evaluate the theme of truth in the story. What lies do the characters tell, and why do they tell them? Do you feel that any of the lies were justified? What role does perspective seem to play in the determination of what is true and what is not?
8. Everett says that people can change, but Nicolette seems to believe that people do not change in any substantial way. Does the book ultimately suggest who is right? Do you agree? Explain.
9. How would you characterize the relationship that Corinne had with the other characters? How did each of the characters seem to feel about Corinne? How do we know this? What does Nicolette reveal about Corinne that gives us insight we might not otherwise have? How does this point of view—and the point of view of the other characters—shape or influence your assessment of Corinne’s fate?
10. Evaluate the themes of morality and the dual nature of humans. Can readers distinguish who is a "good" or "bad" character as the story unravels or at the book’s conclusion, or is a more complex view of morality presented? Explain. What motivates the characters to make the moral choices they each make? Do you feel that they made the right choices? Discuss.
11. What does the book seem to suggest about how well we can know others? What does the story indicate about the way we come to "know" another person? What influences our assessments of others and what prevents us from knowing other people—and ourselves—better?
12. What does Nicolette say is most necessary and essential to our survival? Do you agree with her? Why or why not?
13. At the conclusion of the story, what does Nicolette say defines home? Is her concept of what makes a home surprising? Do you agree with her definition? Explain.
14. Evaluate the theme of memory in the book. Are the memories of the characters reliable? Why or why not? What does this suggest about the way that time influences our perspective and how the past affects our future?
15. Since the majority of the action takes place in Nicolette’s memory, how does the author create suspense and tension? What are some of the most surprising elements of plot and character and why are they surprising? Were you surprised by the conclusion of the book? Why or why not? How did your opinion of each of the characters change by the story’s end?
(Questions isssued by the publisher.)
Nine Women, One Dress
Jane L. Rosen, 2016
Knopf Doubleday
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385541404
Summary
A charming, hilarious, irresistible romp of a novel that brings together nine unrelated women, each touched by the same little black dress that weaves through their lives, bringing a little magic with it.
Natalie is a Bloomingdale's salesgirl mooning over her lawyer ex-boyfriend who's engaged to someone else after just two months.
Felicia has been quietly in love with her boss for seventeen years and has one night to finally make the feeling mutual.
Andie is a private detective who specializes in gathering evidence on cheating husbands—a skill she unfortunately learned from her own life—and lands a case that may restore her faith in true love.
For these three women, as well as half a dozen others in sparkling supporting roles—a young model fresh from rural Alabama, a diva Hollywood star making her Broadway debut, an overachieving, unemployed Brown grad who starts faking a fabulous life on social media, to name just a few—everything is about to change, thanks to the dress of the season, the perfect little black number everyone wants to get their hands on. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Jane L. Rosen is an author and Huffington Post contributor. She lives in New York City and Fire Island with her husband and three daughters. She often takes inspiration from the city she lives in and the people she shares it with.
She is the author of a young adult novel, The Thread, which she self-published with a print-on-demand company. In addition to her writing she has spent time in film, television and event production and is the cofounder of It’s All Gravy LLC, a web and app-based gifting company. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Nine Women, One Dress is a love letter to New York. Rosen deftly peels back the layers and reveals the lives that inhabit the skyscrapers, brownstones, the department stores, hotels, and parks.
Liz Matthews - Town & Country
[A] witty debut novel featur[ing] a transformative item of clothing. This is a fun book, tightly plotted and perfectly timed for the summer season.
Publishers Weekly
[An] "it dress" from New York's fashion season and how it affects the lives of the women who wear it.... Chick lit at its best. If this book were a dress, it would fit everyone perfectly and flatter everyone's figure. —Jennifer Mills, Shorewood-Troy Lib., IL
Library Journal
A charming story that twists the lives of New Yorkers around a little black dress. Or is it the other way around?... Rosen's debut novel is rich in relationships, written with clarity and humor and surprise twists that bring the tale to a satisfying conclusion. A pure pleasure to read.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions.
1. On the boat to America, Max Hammer tells Morris Siegel that he know he wanted to marry his wife, Dorothy, since he saw her at age twelve. Do you know childhood sweethearts who are still married today? What do you think is different about their relationship?
2. What did you think about the scenes between Jeremy and his publicist and agent? Did you think it was accurate to in terms of how celebrity images are manipulated in the media?
3. Discuss the role that Bloomingdales plays in the novel. What’s your go-to store for occasions when only "the dress" will do?
4. Sometimes fate needs a helping hand and a "buttinski" like Tomás can be a godsend. Do you agree or disagree?
5. The portrayal of New York City is filled with affection. Would it have been possible for this novel to be set anywhere else?
6. In Chapter 10 we learn how Arthur wound up dating the much-younger Sherri. Did it offer a new perspective on how older men wind up with much younger women?
7. Andie’s 100th client has not been entirely truthful with her. Were you surprised when Caroline reveals her real reason for retaining Andie’s services?
8. In Nine Women, One Dress, people find love in very unusual but very satisfying ways. Who was your favorite couple and why?
9. Sophie’s use of Instagram to portray a glamorous life she really doesn’t lead is not so far from the truth. Do you feel pressure to portray yourself a certain way on social media?
10. "The right dress makes an ordinary woman feel extraordinary," says Morris Siegel at the end of the novel. Why do women have a more complicated and intimate relationship with clothing than men?
11. Do you have a dress like "the dress" in the novel?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)