Bookreporter Talks To

Sadeqa Johnson joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss Yellow Wife, her first novel of historical fiction.

Yellow Wife tells the story of Pheby Delores Brown, a mixed-race woman who grew up in Virginia. When the book opens, she is living on a plantation with her mother, who is a medicine woman. Pheby’s father is the Master of the plantation, which gives her some privileges not typically allow to slaves. She’s been promised her freedom at age 18. But before that freedom can be granted, circumstances change and Pheby is sent to an infamous jailhouse, where conditions are harsh. To stay alive as she works to build a life of her own, Pheby has to connect with her jailer and face sacrifice after sacrifice.

In the midst of the conversation about the book, Sadeqa shares the inspiration that led her to write Yellow Wife. After discussing the events of the story and how Sadeqa tackled the serious topics in the novel, she talks about the relationship her children have with the book, the ways this historical fiction is a step away from anything she's done before, and what working with J.K. Rowling earlier in her career taught her about being an author.

Books discussed in this episode:

YELLOW WIFE by Sadeqa Johnson 

Check out our other videos:

Bookaccino Book Club with William Kent Krueger

Bookaccino Book Club with Jeanine Cummins

Best Books of 2020

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Welcome to our January "Bookaccino Live" Book Group event, in which we discuss This Tender Land with William Kent Krueger. We opened the program with Carol Fitzgerald interviewing Kent about This Tender Land, a New York Times bestseller and Bookreporter Bets On selection. Four readers were then invited to join the discussion on camera to ask questions before we went to questions from our Zoom audience. Kent has been interviewed before on “Bookreporter Talks To,” but this interview took the conversation in new directions. This included a deep dive into the themes and characters of the novel, as well as Kent's own outdoor adventures and writing techniques.

Bookreporter Talks To William Kent Krueger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-cwXKaNEQY&t

Books discussed:

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/this-tender-land/about

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner has been writing thrillers for the past twenty years. You probably know her best from her three book series, including the one with Detective D.D. Warren, but her latest novel, Before She Disappeared is a standalone novel. In Before She Disappeared, Frankie Elkin is a middle-aged woman who spends her life hopping between towns to try locating missing persons, with a focus on tracking down those who live in marginalized communities. She's a recovering alcoholic and a bartender, which sounds like an odd combo until you meet her. When police run out of threads in a missing person case, Frankie starts looking for them. In her newest case, Frankie finds herself in Boston, searching for a missing Haitian teenager. More than one person don't like her asking questions, and the police do not embrace her help at the start. Lisa details the type of work Frankie does for Carol during this week's episode. She describes the life of this woman, who is tied between average life and crime. She also discusses this book being a standalone, what that means for upcoming novels, and some of the challenges she had researching and writing modern day aspects of this thriller.

Books discussed in this episode:

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner:

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Liese O'Halloran Schwarz joins us to discuss her new novel What Could Be Saved, a Bookreporter Bets On selection. The book began as a short story in which she reflected on her life in Bangkok as a child. The bones of the story were there and grew to be the novel we have now.
What Could Be Saved follows the perspectives of a family. When the book opens, it’s 2019. We meet Laura Preston, an artist who struggles with her sister about family matters and whose mother is dealing with dementia. A stranger calls claiming to know where her brother Philip is; this is the brother who has been missing for forty years.
The book pivots to 1972, and the story flips to the perspective of Laura's parents and household staff as the children grow up. We see the family living happily, and then Philip disappears before they return to the United States.
Liese, who worked for decades as an emergency room doctor, talks with Carol about how writing was always a part of her life--even as she was practicing medicine. Her relationship with her sister, an author named Carla Buckley,  was much different than Laura and Bea's, but has found its way into the books. She speaks at length about her writing process, but especially about the elements that make her fiction both engrossing and powerful.

Books discussed in this episode:

What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Melanie Benjamin, the New York Times bestselling author of Mistress of the Ritz and The Swans of Fifth Avenue, returns to our podcast and video series to discuss her new novel, The Children's Blizzard. This blizzard, so named in 1888, provides the backdrop for the book, and  gives readers insight into what happened in the Dakota Territory on that fateful day 133 years ago.  The book is framed around the story of two sisters who were young school teachers on the day of the storm. Students headed to class on a winter morning that was more mild than usual, but a blizzard then struck without warning. The schoolteachers, teen girls not much older than the children themselves, were forced to make survival decisions that could mean life or death for the children in their classes. Pulling from research into the historical stories of survivors, the novel plunges you into both the danger of the blizzard itself and its aftermath, which changes the lives of those who were in its path. Melanie also explores the migration west, which often brought immigrants to make this journey looking for a promised land and the struggles that they encountered  They explore Melanie’s research and the level of realism at play in the novel, referencing the deeply personal stories Melanie was able to explore, which are so often lost in history books. Melanie shares how the people in this book relate to her own life, and the sources of inspiration that led her to write this book.

Books discussed in this episode:

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Audio excerpted courtesy Penguin Random House Audio from The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin, narrated by Cassandra Campbell.

We kick off 2021 talking to Ashley Audrain, the author of The Push, a book that has been getting well-deserved buzz. In it, Blythe has given birth to her daughter, Violet, and while she dreamed of a loving mother-daughter relationship, she is not bonding with Violet. Something feels off. Her husband, Fox, does not see it, and this has her questioning her mothering skills. Her mother and grandmother both grappled with mental instability, so she has no great familial role models. Then her second child Sam arrives, and he is an easy child. Motherhood with him feels blissful, until something happens that turns the family upside down. Carol and Ashley talk about the stereotypical maternal relationship that is touted and often overrated. They also look at the craft of writing The Push. It is written in the second person, which places readers inside Blythe’s head. Ashley also gives listeners a glimpse of what’s next for her writing.

Books discussed in this episode:

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Audio excerpted courtesy Penguin Random House Audio from The Push by Ashley Audrain, narrated by Marin Ireland.

Welcome to our End-of-Year video where Carol Fitzgerald talks about all 42 of the books that she selected as Bookreporter "Bets On" selections in 2020!

You can read more about the books and enter to WIN ALL 42 of these books by Monday, January 4th here: https://www.bookreporter.com/features/end-of-the-year-celebration/end-of-the-year-contest-2020

Here are some other useful links:

Find Our Podcast Here: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/bookreporter-talks-to-919758

Subscribe on Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8i9fX1kw_etTti4i0Rc9A

BOOKS DISCUSSED:

We've listed the books discussed below. You can find each book discussed in this video by clicking on the time stamps beside the title.

Throughout 2020, we interviewed many of these authors for our "Bookreporter Talks To" video/podcast series. If an interview with an author is available, it will be linked below their name.

1:40 - AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins
https://youtu.be/yY-yhIXjMYM

3:39 - HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD by Robert Kolker https://youtu.be/i8q7ERWS5Pk

5:42 - HOLLYWOOD PARK by Mikel Jollett https://youtu.be/QojOulByWbc

The Airborne Toxic Event:
youtube.com/watch?v=UYPoMjR6-Ao

9:18 - LONG BRIGHT RIVER by Liz Moore https://youtu.be/GyhrQhx4sag

10:39 - SAINT X by Alexis Schaitkin https://youtu.be/O2BI4igSM9w

13:05 - BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN by Diane Chamberlain https://youtu.be/g3ZFesn-f-c

15:32 - THE OTHER MRS. by Mary Kubica

16:25 - THE END OF HER by Shari Lapena https://youtu.be/jNhTZGD-fcA

18:07 - THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS by Megan Miranda https://youtu.be/Nsg_QakI1Iw

19:24 - WHAT'S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott https://youtu.be/WADVVZhvRvI

21:35 - THE LAST FLIGHT by Julie Clark https://youtu.be/WuVIvne5RuA

23:55 - TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE by Megan Michell Moore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikNJSm8IyP0&t

25:25 - HIS & HERS by Alice Feeney https://youtu.be/jXgmz7vlFy8

26:37 - THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin

27:48 - THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley

29:11 - ONE BY ONE by Ruth Ware https://youtu.be/vHEVnEtrCnI

31:12 - INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell https://youtu.be/UfNo28qGmF4

32:58 - DON'T LOOK FOR ME by Wendy Walker https://youtu.be/QAsZkYfc2H0

35:08 - GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL by Aimee Molloy https://youtu.be/nQodeii1_M8

36:45 - CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45 by Lisa Unger https://youtu.be/C-s-1EDSN94

38:23 - THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR by Rose Carlyle https://youtu.be/HFEAzVASNro

42:05 - LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent

43:05 - LADY CLEMENTINE by Marie Benedict https://youtu.be/4isxLj3yRKs

44:06 - THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE by Fiona Davis https://youtu.be/GyMMSAmz4lg

46:07 - THE QUEEN'S FORTUNE by Allison Pataki https://youtu.be/1a2zSaL9lHQ

47:45 - THE EXILES by Christina Baker Kline https://youtu.be/2LFOXeOkrXY

49:35 - BRONTE'S MISTRESS by Finola Austin https://youtu.be/EWUhKdeBxQs

51:35 - THE GHOSTS OF HARVARD by Francesca Serritella https://youtu.be/Id0r7gDwFIU

53:12 - THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett

55:30 - A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD by Therese Anne Fowler https://youtu.be/PNzJAZHPDek

57:19 - THE PARIS HOURS by Alex George https://youtu.be/0AUgKOb-MZw

58:42 - IN FIVE YEARS by Rebecca Serle https://youtu.be/hW5K53tZflQ

1:00:10 - HELLO, SUMMER by Mary Kay Andrews https://youtu.be/65BFGn_-vZo

1:01:57 - BIG SUMMER by Jennifer Weiner https://youtu.be/KklrdZ1AuxQ

1:03:12 - FLORENCE ADLER SWIMS FOREVER by Rachel Beanland https://youtu.be/KVrxLBBjHPY

1:04:47 - THE JETSETTERS by Amanda Eyre Ward https://youtu.be/C5YLN6cwgJQ

1:06:24 - ALL ADULTS HERE by Emma Straub https://youtu.be/ki6cNhqjm38

1:08:32 - THE SECOND HOME by Christina Clancy

1:10:34 - MONOGAMY by Sue Miller https://youtu.be/tkOKm1TFU_U

1:13:03 - THE HEIRLOOM GARDEN by Viola Shipman https://youtu.be/jQmIWChQ3SA

1:15:52 - TINY IMPERFECTIONS by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans

1:18:08 - NEXT TIME THIS YEAR WE'LL BE LAUGHING by Jacqueline Winspear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5TdyL7CxPs

Sue Miller discusses Monogamy, her latest novel. Set in a New England town, it is the story of Graham, a gregarious bookseller, and Annie, a shy photographer, who have been married for nearly 30 years. By all appearances, they are a golden couple. When Graham suddenly dies, Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him? Then, while she is still mourning Graham intensely, she discovers a ruinous secret, one that will spiral her into darkness and force her to question whether she ever truly knew the man who loved her. Sue talks about her path to writing this book, which took six years, and how photography became a part of it, as well as her narration of the audiobook.

Books discussed in this episode:

Monogamy by Sue Miller

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Elizabeth Berg , the bestselling author of over thirty books, comes to us with a beautiful memoir about her parents in their final years. In this personal family love story, Elizabeth tells her experience of watching her parents' relationship when she was growing up. When her father is diagnosed with Alzheimer's and they are moved out of their home, it's up to their children to care for them in ways they couldn't expect. Carol talks to Elizabeth about what made writing a memoir different from the other writing she's worked on in the past, and especially what made her decide to write this one. Elizabeth also explains her care in delving into the difficult topics in her family's relationships during this time, and the effect they had on her and her siblings.

Books discussed in this episode:

I'll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com

Jacqueline Winspear talks about her memoir, This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing. After 16 novels, she has taken the bold step of turning to memoir, revealing the hardships and joys of her family history. Both shockingly frank and deftly restrained, her story tackles the difficult, poignant and fascinating family accounts of three generations --- her grandparents, her parents, and she and her brother. Winspear’s childhood was spent picking hops and fruit on farms in rural Kent, capturing her ties to the land and her dream of being a writer at its very inception. Jacqueline talks about this eye-opening and heartfelt portrayal of a post-War England we rarely see and how she pulled together these memories. She also discusses the experience of narrating the audiobook.

Books discussed in this episode:

This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear

Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here

FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com