The Mirror Thief
Martin Seay, 2016
Melville House
592 pp.
ISBN-13: 978-1612195599
Summary
Set in three cities in three eras, The Mirror Thief calls to mind David Mitchell and Umberto Eco in its mix of entertainment and literary bravado.
The core story is set in Venice in the sixteenth century, when the famed makers of Venetian glass were perfecting one of the old world's most wondrous inventions: the mirror.
An object of glittering yet fearful fascination—was it reflecting simple reality, or something more spiritually revealing?—the Venetian mirrors were state of the art technology, and subject to industrial espionage by desirous sultans and royals world-wide.
But for any of the development team to leave the island was a crime punishable by death. One man, however—a world-weary war hero with nothing to lose—has a scheme he thinks will allow him to outwit the city's terrifying enforcers of the edict, the ominous Council of Ten . . .
Meanwhile, in two other Venices—Venice Beach, California, circa 1958, and the Venice casino in Las Vegas, circa today—two other schemers launch similarly dangerous plans to get away with a secret . . .
All three stories will weave together into a spell-binding tour-de-force that is impossible to put down—an old-fashioned, stay-up-all-night novel that, in the end, returns the reader to a stunning conclusion in the original Venice . . . and the bedazzled sense of having read a truly original and thrilling work of art. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1992
• Where—Katy, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., Trinity University; M.A., Queens University of Charlotte
• Currently—lives in Chicago, Illinois
Martin Seay is the author of The Mirror Thief, his debut novel, published in 2016.
Martin grew up in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston. He graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio and lived in Austin, Texas, for a time. When he met Kathleen Rooney, an author and poet, they married, and the two moved around the country, living in Washington, D.C., New England, and Tacoma, Washington, eventually settling in Chicago. For a number of those years, Martin worked as a bookseller for a national chain. Since 2007, he has been the executive secretary for the Village of Wheeling, a suburb of Chicago. (Adapted from The Little Red Reviewer.)
Book Reviews
Audaciously well written...the book I was raving about to my friends before I'd even finished it.... while this novel seems on the surface to be a bit like Cloud Atlas (multiple perspectives, Russian doll structure), it’s more heartfelt, deeper, less of a pastiche. The book—in the end long, frustrating and slow—becomes a mirror....[but] does not contain [many] of... its own questions. This is not The Da Vinci Code for intellectuals. It’s more like “Howl” translated into Latin and then back again. Over 600 pages. It’s amazing.
Scarlett Thomas - New York Times Book Review
[A] wondrous debut, a deliciously intricate, centuries-spanning tripartite tale of money and mysticism.... Mr. Seay has conjured his own kind of sorcery, a sophisticated thriller that keeps the pages turning even as it teases the mind.
Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal
Transfixing.... The Mirror Thief is a startling, beautiful gem of a book that at times approaches a masterpiece.
Michael Schaub - NPR
Compared recently to the work of David Mitchell, Seay’s big, genre-ish The Mirror Thief is actually better than most novels by that author.
Flavorwire
Hugely entertaining.
Daily Mail (UK)
A bold American debut...hypnotic.... Frequently reminiscent of the ominous historical bulletins of Don DeLillo … with a plusher, plumper register, more redolent of Umberto Eco …Seay is clearly a writer of exceptional and eclectic intelligence. The Mirror Thief is always highly admirable.
Guardian (UK)
The weirdest and most ambitious novel of 2016 thus far...a literary, speculative, mystical masterwork.
Chicago Review of Books
(Starred review.) A true delight, a big, beautiful cabinet of wonders that is by turns an ominous modern thriller, a supernatural mystery, and an enchanting historical adventure story.... A splendid masterpiece, to be loved like a long-lost friend, an epic with near-universal appeal.
Publishers Weekly
A 600-page thrill ride across three centuries and two continents.... Part crime thriller and part meditation on poetry, with unexpected plot twists and references to famous figures as diverse as the French dramatist Antonin Artaud and Jay Leno.... An impressive feat of imagination.
Bookpage
(Starred review.) Grandly entrancing.... Shimmering with intimations of Hermann Hesse, Umberto Eco, and David Mitchell, Sheay’s house-of-mirrors novel is spectacularly accomplished and exciting.
Bookbrowse
Seay’s great challenge is ...[met with] varying degrees of success; often the story seems an exercise in stringing together index-card notes on various arcane subjects, and while the book is well-written...it still feels undercooked.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
The publishers have yet to issue discussion questions, so use our LitLovers talking points to help kick off a discussion for The Mirror Thief...then take off on your own:
1. The Mirror Thief contains three separate stories in three distinct time periods. Which of the stories most engaged you—and which characters? Which least engaged you?
2. Discuss how the three plot strands come together at the end. Does the author succeed in weaving the them seamlessly? Does he tie all the knots or leave some loose ends, questions that remain unanswered? Can you explain how the three sections finally link up?
3. How do mirrors function in this complicated novel, both as a metaphor and as a structuring device? An easy one, for instance—in a book with "mirror" in the title, one of the main characters is named Glass.
4. Stanley sees Adrian Welles's book of poetry as perhaps somewhat "goofy" with a hint of "Dungeons & Dragons about it." Stanley, on the other hand, is obsessed with it; for him it is a "map that will take him [to another world], a password that will unfasten the locks. How do each man's views reflect the essence of who he is? What do you think of the book?
5. Do you find the author's philosophizing a bit heavy? Does it bog the book down? Or do his ideas enhance the book for you and lend it intellectual heft?
6. Why is Bingo a fascist game?
7. One of the book's characters makes this observation about books and authors:
[B]ooks always know more than their authors do. They are always wiser. This is strange to say, but it's true. Once they are in the world, they develop their own peculiar ideas.
What might he mean by that remark? And does it pertain to The Mirror Thief—both versions: the book within the book, as well as the book in you hands.
8. Another character remarks:
It is a rare rhetorical gift that permits a man to speak knowledgeably about a topic and still deliver his audience into a state of enriched confusion. At times I think this skill chiefly defines the profession of magus.
Is the Martin Seay, the author, taking a sly poke at his own book? Does The Mirror Thief leave you in a "state of enriched confusion"?
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Invincible Summer
Alice Adams, 2016
Little, Brown and Company
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316391177
Summary
Four friends. Twenty years. One unexpected journey.
Inseparable throughout college, Eva, Benedict, Sylvie, and Lucien graduate in 1997, into an exhilarating world on the brink of a new millennium.
Hopelessly in love with playboy Lucien and eager to shrug off the socialist politics of her upbringing, Eva breaks away to work for a big bank. Benedict, a budding scientist who's pined for Eva for years, stays on to complete his PhD in physics, devoting his life to chasing particles as elusive as the object of his affection. Siblings Sylvie and Lucien, never much inclined toward mortgages or monogamy, pursue more bohemian existences-she as an aspiring artist and he as a club promoter and professional partyer.
But as their twenties give way to their thirties, the group struggles to navigate their thwarted dreams. Scattered across Europe and no longer convinced they are truly the masters of their fates, the once close-knit friends find themselves filled with longing for their youth—and for one another.
Broken hearts and broken careers draw the foursome together again, but in ways they never could have imagined.
A dazzling depiction of the highs and lows of adulthood, Invincible Summer is a story about finding the courage to carry on in the wake of disappointment, and a powerful testament to love and friendship as the constants in an ever-changing world. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Alice Adams is half Australian but has lived in England for most of her life—growing up in a house without a TV and as a result becoming a voracious reader. Career-wise, she's done everything from waitressing to investment banking, and in addition to a BA in philosophy, she has a multitude of geeky math, finance, and computer qualifications.
She lives in North London but escapes into the wilderness as often as possible. Invincible Summer is her first novel and she's hard at work on a second. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
There's a long list of reasons that Alice Adams's debut novel, Invincible Summer, shouldn't work. But it clicks anyhow. Ms. Adams has managed to combine…a familiar plot…and pigeonhole-ready characters and spin their story into a heart tugger with seemingly honest appeal. This amazing feat doesn't rival those of the Large Hadron Collider, which plays a cameo role in Invincible Summer. But it's close…. Ms. Adams [has a] gift for making her characters so changeable, so vulnerable, so universally familiar. They all make terrible decisions…and the book's main satisfaction comes from watching them adapt and cope.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
A crackerjack storyteller who deeply inhabits her characters—deploying pitch-perfect dialogue to poignant and hilarious effect—Adams uses the conventions of the form to examine larger ideas about class and commerce, art and science, friendship and family at the time of the most recent fin de siècle.... Ultimately, though, this is a novel that strives to define a generation...and it falters when Adams overreaches, struggling to establish her characters as representatives of their era, shaped by the historical events of their day.... [T]his charming novel derives its power less from its author’s reductive attempts at answers and more from her restless questioning.
Joanna Rakoff - New York Times Book Review
[A] moving...bittersweet and compassionate novel.... Like your favorite Austen novel, Invincible Summer reconciles the cultural reality of an era with the personal lives of its characters. But Eva is not as reflective as, say, Elizabeth Bennet.
Sophie McManus - Washington Post
Perfect for the beach, but it's got some substance as well.... Think of this as The Big Chill for millennials.
Deborah Dundas - Toronto Star
Easy yet not insubstantial, this debut is a sweet toast to enduring friendship.
Meredith Turits - Elle
Adulthood has never been so endearing.
Steph Opitz - Marie Claire
Adams movingly depicts the tough steps we take into adulthood.
Good Housekeeping
Adams does an incredible job [of] conveying life's ups and downs with both humor and compassion, [and] shows herself to be especially skilled at crafting charming, empathetic (albeit troubled) characters you can't help but cheer on.
Sadie L. Trombetta - Bustle
[A] fun and memorable debut.... Adams’s characters have many ups and downs, disappointments and adjustments, but they are believable due to her understated exposition of the characters’ psychologies. The reader will stick with the book...because the characters are such good company.
Publishers Weekly
Adams'...characters are nearly impossible not to root for, and she captures their often troubled dynamics with tremendous empathy and charming wit. And while the novel wraps up just a touch too neatly...there is something pleasantly satisfying about its profound sense of hope. Breezy with substance...absorbing.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. "Is it impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him?" or so said George Bernard Shaw, and it's certainly true that it's difficult to write about the UK without at the very least a nod to class. To what degree do you think the friends' lives and aspirations are shaped by their social class?
2. The novel aims to give a nuanced portrayal of the London's financial world and the characters in it; do you feel it succeeds in providing a good portrayal of the workings of finance and the motivations of the people working in the field? Did you come away more of less sympathetic to bankers than when you started the book?
3. We follow Eva, Benedict, Sylvie, and Lucien across 20 years and through some of the most formative experiences of their lives, including job lay-offs, divorce, prison, and raising a disable child. Do the characters respond to these challenges in a convincing and interesting way?
4. One of the central themes in the novel is finding the hope and courage to carry on despite life's disappointments and tragedies. Although the characters do not find simple solutions to their problems,do you feel the overall message is redemptive? If so, in what way? If not, why not?
5. What is the significance of the book's title? It comes from a line by Albert Camus: "In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there lay within me an invincible summer." What does Camus mean? And how does the line relate to Alice Adams's book?
6. Invincible Summer takes place over two decades in a number of historical events, including 9/11, the credit crunch, and the discovery of the Higgs boson. How much did you feel the characters were masters of their own fates, and how much were they buffeted by forces of economics and history far greater than themselves?
7. Do you feel satisfied with the way the book ends? Would you have preferred a different ending? If so, what might that ending look like?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Mysterium I: Rome
Mitchel Fidel, 2016
Portals Publishing
159 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780997051230
Summary
Jesus of Nazareth has been dead for some 65 years. The eyewitnesses to this extraordinary life have died, often as martyrs, and only a scattered handful remain.
Might anyone have resolved to interview those last few before it was too late, it being a matter of mind-boggling importance? What if someone had?
Mysterium I: Rome presents the story of a young Roman scholar who determines to do precisely that. This sleuth who has the will and the means to comb the Roman Empire for answers is Theophilus, "Lover of God." Opening his very first scroll of Christian scripture, and finding his own name there, catalyzes a series of events that seemingly promises a life mission full of heroic discovery.
But soon Theophilus has cause to wonder about the advisability of his investigation. Danger looms, while he is on the scent of the unfathomable in ominous cavities of a city where so very much is hidden. Catacombs. Forbidden archives. "Witches Hill," a.k.a. the Vatican.
In Rome, life is stupendously raw. Theophilus' adventures put him in congress with gladiators, prostitutes, torturers, crucifiers, conquerors, sorcerers, swindlers, schemers, and an aristocratic matron who insists that she is a daughter of the Beast. Pulled relentlessly toward ever more mystifying mysteries, Theophilus comes to realize that he has undertaken a quest after the secret of secrets. (From the publisher.)
Mysterium: I Rome is internationally available as Kindle and trade paperback through Amazon and as an Audible book in 2016, narrated by Phillip J Mather.
For discounted bulk purchases of 10 copies or more, or for a free pdf for Literary Review, please contact
Author Bio
• Birth—August 21, 1953
• Where—Newark, New Jersey, USA
• Education—M.A., US Army Russian Institute, Garmisch, Germany
• Currently—Tampa, Florida
Mitchel Fidel has traveled to nearly all parts of the world, experiencing a full immersion in foreign languages and cultures. He was employed at the Multiversity for Personal Development in India, and his teaching experience has ranged from the Defense Department’s National Cryptologic School to the Nizhoni School for Global Consciousness in Santa Fe.
With writing experience behind him that included Top Secret intelligence analysis for the National Security Agency and developmental work for two Hollywood internet firms, he undertook the Great Puzzle of first century A.D. spirituality, because so much information in that regard had come to light that it was practically begging to be put into the entertaining configuration of a novel. He lives in Tampa, where he surveys an Egyptic scene of palm trees, lotuses, ibises, and alligators, all from a balcony that is visited by falcons.
Fidel has been to all of the locales that form the backdrop to the Mysterium series, and has studied the relevant historical materials not for years but for decades, making him uniquely qualified to carry out such a project. His colorful lifetime travelogue is available on Facebook (Mitchel Fidel 1), and he welcomes discussion of the innately controversial material presented in his books, on Facebook, on the Goodreads author site "Mitchel Fidel", on Twitter @gnostalogue, and on the website mitchelfidel.com. The Mysterium series will continue with Mysterium II Greece, Mysterium III Asia, Mysterium IV Judea, and Mysterium V Egypt and Beyond.
Narrator bio – Phillip J. Mather
Phillip J Mather, long-time USA resident yet steadfastly retaining his olde worlde Britishness and accent resides on Dysfunctional Farm in South Texas with his delightful American wife and a motley herd of largely adopted / rescued animals, including donkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowl etc. Currently the semi-resident alligator [Algernon] is decimating the catfish population. Agnes [Algernon’s predecessor] was successfully wrangled and now lives in a proper wild life rescue facility, where Algernon will be sent as soon as he is large enough to warrant capture.
Phillip has been providing his voice to commercials, animations, video games, eLearning projects from his purpose-built studio for 10+ years, and has enjoyed producing audiobooks for the past two years. He is an "Audible Approved" narrator and specializes in historical non-fiction, biography, and business & personal development titles.
"It's not just that Mr. Mather is British; he is ultra-British—by turns dramatic, jovial, sinister, soothing, and matter-of-fact. He is a bit Olivier, a bit Rathbone, a bit Attenborough, with touches of Sebastian Cabot, Patrick Stewart, and Darth Vader in the mix."
(Author bios from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Well-researched historical mystery set in the 1st century. [This book] grabbed my interest, and I almost couldn’t put it down. It’s a historical mystery novel, told from the viewpoint of a 1st century Roman scholar sleuthing after the facts about Jesus of Nazareth. And this is exactly what the reader gets—facts.
In the 1st century AD, Jesus had been heard of in Rome, but Christianity was still a minority religion considered to be a weird cult by most Romans. It’s plausible that a Roman amateur historian at that time would have been curious enough about Jesus to delve into the facts of his life while there were still people alive who had met the gospel writers or Jesus’s apostles, and it’s a fascinating premise for a mystery. In fact, it’s a most important mystery for our time. This book aims to separate the facts from the fiction.
Scrupulously researched, the book is simply crammed with information about daily life and historical events in ancient Rome. Although the conversations and relationships are interesting, and the scholar’s quest for information keeps you turning the pages to find out the truth, the bonus of this book is how much it teaches about Roman culture and history. Nearly every page is sprinkled with tidbits such as the layout and furnishings of a typical Roman house, the recent memory of the destruction of Pompeii, how scrolls were stored, the roles of women, prostitutes and slaves, and even how the Romans handled sanitation (an amusing segment). It’s an entertaining learning experience that I recommend to anyone who enjoys a mystery and especially to anyone with an interest in history. There will be more titles in this series, and I look forward to reading them as soon as they’re released.
Roberta in Tampa, Amazon Customer Review
Discussion Questions
1. Nearly all ancient books have disappeared. If you were given a week to peruse an ancient library, plus the services of a translator, what information, what "mysterium," would you investigate?
2. What is the meaning of the name "Theophilus"? Was this name an intriguing hook for the opening of a novel? Who do you suppose the actual Theophilus was?
3. What visual images of first century Rome stand out for you in Mysterium: I Rome? Were there any that did not match your expectations?
4. Were you able to spot any anachronisms, or any items or attitudes that did not seem correct for the time and place?
5. Can you describe the important character who never appears, Paul? His appearance, attitudes, writings, entourage, experiences, and demise?
6. Another important character who never appears is Emperor Augustus. Can you remember the important points at which he is mentioned? Was your opinion of him favorable or otherwise?
7. What did you learn about the nature of the Vatican in ancient times?
8. Can you name some good deeds and some evil deeds that were performed by various Roman emperors? What do you think of Roman imperial government?
9. What was the importance of the fact that the Colosseum was constructed using funds looted from the Temple of Jerusalem. What is your own feeling about each of these buildings?
10. Floralia claimed that Nero’s time was a time of novels, and mentioned one novel that was written at this time for Jews, and one novel that was written at this time for Romans. What do you know about, and think about, the literature of this period?
11. What clues existed that Luke and Paul were in league with Roman "insiders," and that they were endeavoring to make Christianity more palatable to the Roman establishment?
12. Who, in the novel, though not identified as such, was the fourth pope? What was the nature of his character and his teachings?
13. What is a codex and what are its advantages over a scroll? How was the world different when a major published work would be available in fifty copies? How has printing changed the world?
14. What shortcomings did many people see in the Book of Mark? What was his unflattering nickname? What evidence is there that he was unfamiliar with Judea?
15. What made Theophilus dislike Hadrian at first, and what made him change his mind? Did he seem to you to be a positive figure? Do you know what ultimately happened to him?
16. Pater Patrum, alias Papa, and his "peter stone," formed the beginnings of what institution? Does this scenario that is claimed by the novel seem convincing?
17. What are the major differences between the four New Testament gospels described in Mysterium:I Rome?
18. Compare and contrast the people of first century Rome with your contemporaries and peers.
19. Rank in order of importance three facts presented in this book. Rank and discuss the validity of three of the theories presented in the book.
20. What things which were commonly done during the first century in Rome are now considered offensive, barbaric, cruel, or immoral?
21. If you lived in the first century in Rome, what would a normal day be like? Expand on this: Discuss where you would fit in, in society. What might your life expectancy be? What politics would you espouse? What religion would you follow?
22. What are your spiritual beliefs? How do they compare to the spiritual beliefs of early Christians as portrayed in this book?
23. Describe the three main characters in this book. What else you you like to know about them?
24. What do you believe Theophilus will discover during his later journeying, to Greece, Asia, and Judea?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
First Comes Love
Emily Giffin, 2016
Random House
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345546920
Summary
A pair of sisters find themselves at a crossroads in this story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.
Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious, relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing, Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes, their delicate bond splinters.
Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter is assigned to her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands.
On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired.
As the anniversary of their tragedy looms, and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover that they need each other more than they knew—and that in the search for true happiness, love always comes first. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 20, 1979
• Where—Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Raised—Naperville, Illinois
• Education—B.A., Wake Forest University; J.D., University of Virginia
• Currenbtly—lives in Atlanta, Georgia
Emily Giffin is the bestselling American author of eight novels commonly categorized as "chick lit." More specifically, Giffin writes stories about relationships and the full array of emotions experienced within them.
Giffin earned her undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University, where she also served as manager of the basketball team, the Demon Deacons. She then attended law school at the University of Virginia. After graduating in 1997, she moved to Manhattan and worked in the litigation department of Winston & Strawn. But Giffin soon determined to seriously pursue her writing.
In 2001, she moved to London and began writing full time. Her first young adult novel, Lily Holding True, was rejected by eight publishers, but Giffin was undaunted. She began a new novel, then titled Rolling the Dice, which became the bestselling novel Something Borrowed.
2002 was a big year for Emily Giffin. She married, found an agent, and signed a two-book deal with St. Martin's Press. While doing revisions on Something Borrowed, she found the inspiration for a sequel, Something Blue.
In 2003, Giffin and her husband left England for Atlanta, Georgia. A few months later, on New Year's Eve, she gave birth to identical twin boys, Edward and George.
Something Borrowed was released spring 2004. It received unanimously positive reviews and made the extended New York Times bestsellers list. Something Blue followed in 2005, and in 2006, her third, Baby Proof, made its debut. No new hardcover accompanied the paperback release of in 2007. Instead, Giffin spent the year finishing her fourth novel and enlarging her family. Her daughter, Harriet, was born May 24, 2007.
More novels:
2008 - Love the One You're With
2010 - Heart of the Matter
2012 - Where We Belong
2014 - The One & Only
2016 - First Comes Love
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Emily on Twitter.
Book Reviews
Giffin’s talent is pretty much unparalleled when it comes to the modern woman’s story about life, love and family.
Redbook
[A] chronicle of the rocky relationship between two disparate sisters.... Chapters alternate from each sister’s point of view, convincing the reader to see things from both perspectives.... Giffin manages to explore numerous themes...: holding on to the past, expectations, and forgiveness. This is Giffin at her finest—a fantastic, memorable story.
Publishers Weekly
This well-written and engaging story explores how relationships evolve and people can surprise us if we let them.... Giffin's latest is sure to be a great discussion starter for book groups and a hit with the author's many fans. —Karen Core, Detroit P.L.
Library Journal
Moving and complex.... proves [Emily Giffin is] still at the top of her game.
Booklist
Giffin paints a realistic portrait of the troubled and complex relationship between a pair of sisters. Beyond the sisters, the novel is rich with well-drawn characters.... Giffin’s fans will be pleased with this fast-paced, witty, and thoughtful new offering.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Here's to Us
Elin Hilderbrand, 2016
Little, Brown and Co.
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316375146
Summary
An emotional, heartwarming story from New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand about a grieving family that finds solace where they least expect it.
Celebrity chef Deacon Thorpe has always been a force of nature with an insatiable appetite for life. But after that appetite contributes to Deacon's shocking death in his favorite place on earth, a ramshackle Nantucket summer cottage, his (messy, complicated) family is reeling.
Now Deacon's three wives, his children, and his best friend gather on the island he loved to say farewell. The three very different women have long been bitter rivals, each wanting to claim the primary place in Deacon's life and his heart.
But as they slowly let go of the resentments they've held onto for years and remember the good times, secrets are revealed, confidences are shared, and improbable bonds are formed as this unlikely family says goodbye to the man who brought them all together, for better or worse—and the women he loved find new ways to love again (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1969-70
• Where—Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—B.A., Hopkins University; University of Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives in Nantucket, Massachuestts
Elin Hilderbrand is an American writer of Summer beach read romance novels, some 20 in all. Her books have been set on and around Nantucket Island where she lives with her husband and three children.
Hilderbrand was born and raised in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. As a child, she spent summers on Cape Cod, "playing touch football at low tide, collecting sea glass, digging pools for hermit crabs, swimming out to the wooden raft off shore," until her father died in a plane crash when she was sixteen. She spent the next summer working—doing piecework in a factory that made Halloween costumes; she promised herself that the goal for the rest of her life would be that she would always have a real summer.
She graduated from Johns Hopkins University and became a teaching/writing fellow at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. In 1993 she moved to Nantucket, took a job as "the classified ads girl" at a local paper, and later started writing.
Her first novels were published by St. Martin's Press. With A Summer Affair, published in 2008, she moved to Little, Brown and Company. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 7/11/2013.)
Book Reviews
The queen of the summer beach read...keeps the title with another light-as-air Nantucket-centered tome.
New York Post
Beautiful people, dysfunctional families and Nantucket: That's Hilderbrand territory, and it wouldn't be summer without a visit...[Here's to Us is] just the thing for a day by the sea.
Kim Hubbard - People"
It must be summer: Hilderbrand is back with a new beach read.
Jocelyn McClurg - USA Today
The perfect summer read...Fans of delectable summer reads and romances with a touch of tragedy will love this latest Hilderbrand novel, a perfect companion for a sunny summer morning and a bowl of something sweet.
Tara Sonin - B&N Reads
The bestselling author of The Rumor pens yet another must-pack beach read--this time about forgiveness, unlikely friendships and the experiences that unite us.
Ava Baccari - Hello Canada
The book immediately draws you in with its scenic descriptions of the island and the Page Six-worthy life of a famous rock star chef. A comfy beach chair and Here's to Us is the perfect recipe for a delectable reading experience.
Bronwyn Miller - BookReporter
A celebrity chef's sudden death leaves his widow, exes, children, and best friend in a quandary. And since this is a Hilderbrand novel, is there any doubt that the dilemma involves Nantucket real estate?... No one captures the flavor and experience of a summer place—the outdoor showers, the seafood, the sand in the floorboards—like Hilderbrand.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add specific questions if they're made available by the author. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to help kick off a discussion for Here's to Us...then take off on your own:
1. This story is told through shifting points of view, one chapter at a time, a rather different structure than usual for Elin Hilderbrand. Did the structure work for you...were you able to engage with the characters as much as you wanted? Were you able to keep up with all the different characters—or was it hard, at first, to keep them straight?
2. How would you describe Deacon Thorpe, the deceased husband? Talk about his abandonment by his parents and how it shaped his life. Does that single event explain his actions or, perhaps, even exonerate him despite the fact that he hurt numerous people all through his life? In other words, are you able to feel sympathy for him?
3. What kind of a parent was Deacon Thorpe? Talk about the connections (or lack thereof) he had with this children, especially with Angie.
4. Talk about the wives and how they differ from one another. Who of the three—Belinda, Laurel, or Scarlett—was most suitable for Deacon? They come together resenting, maybe despising, one another, but how do their attitudes and relationships toward one another change by the end of the novel? How did your attitude toward them change?
5. Same with the three children. Talk about their emotional baggage, their relationships with their parents and with one another.
6. How does this book treat addiction: does it suggest it is a a failure of character or an inherited trait? What do you think? Did the revelations in the book alter your views?
7. Was the ending satisfying...or did you wish for more?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)