Club Calvi

Readers have gone five years without a new novel from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas. Now the wait is over.

Mary Calvi talked to Kleypas about her new novel "Queen of Lombard Street." The book is historical fiction set in Victorian London where a female economist is determined to open a bank for women, but a mysterious man may destroy her dream.

Kleypas told Mary that after a successful career writing dozens of historical romances, a health scare prompted her to step out of her comfort zone and take a risk. In 2020, Kleypas discovered a lump in her throat. She says her recovery and isolation during COVID pushed her toward an exhilarating challenge. She says in "Queen of Lombard Street" there is a strong romance, but the point is not whether the couple gets together. Kleypas says she is grateful for the support from her readers, calling them phenomenal.

ClubCalvi.com

Audio Excerpt from QUEEN OF LOMBARD STREET by Lisa Kleypas. Copyright © 2026 by Lisa Kleypas. By Permission of Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renée Watson, an award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of books for children and young people, tells Mary Calvi that each of her novels is her way of having a conversation with her readers as they navigate life. Watson says she wants to give them a space to process their thoughts and emotions.

Her new book, "Everything New Again," is about first love. It also explores the complexities in some relationships between children and their parents, and the idea of home.

Watson has written 20 books with more than one million copies sold. Her previous book, the middle grade novel "All The Blues in the Sky," won the Newbery Medal. It's considered one of the highest honor in children's literature. Watson shared her reaction when she got the phone call from the medal committee about the win. She also told Mary about how her experiences as a child, and her conversations with the many young people she's mentored and met, inspire her stories.

ClubCalvi.com

Audio excerpted with permission of Bloomsbury Children's Books Audio from EVERYTHING NEW AGAIN by Renée Watson, excerpt read by Bahni Turpin. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary Calvi talks to Bonnie Garmus about her second novel "Peck & Peck," one of the most anticipated books of the year, and her follow-up to her blockbuster debut book "Lessons in Chemistry."

Released in 2022, "Lessons in Chemistry" was on the New York Times bestselling list for 99 weeks, sold 9 million copies globally, and was adapted into a streaming series. Garmus told Mary how she handled the challenges of writing "Peck & Peck" after "Lessons in Chemistry," how she dealt with dozens of rejections at the beginning of her writing career, how "Peck & Peck" is her call to action for careers in the arts, and the power of poetry.

ClubCalvi.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy Chozick talks with Mary Calvi and answers questions from readers about her debut novel "With Friends Like You." The psychological thriller was voted a Club Calvi Readers' Choice. It's about an overwhelmed and lonely new mother in Manhattan who believes the answer to all of her problems is finding her college roommate who disappeared 15 years prior into the world of adult entertainment.

Club Calvi readers loved the novel's jaw-dropping twist. Chozick also talked about the screenplay she wrote for a planned movie adaptation of "With Friends Like You," and her other projects including writing and executive producing a planned streaming series based on the book "The Nanny Diaries."

ClubCalvi.com

Audio excerpted with permission of Penguin Random House Audio from WITH FRIENDS LIKE YOU by Amy Chozick, read by Ellen Adair. Amy Chozick ℗ 2026 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda Peters achieved bestselling and award-winning success with her first book, "The Berry Pickers." She talked with Mary Calvi about her new novel "The Birthing Tree." It's about a woman who returns to her Indigenous community after years away, and who learns the truth behind family secrets and reconnects with her family's lineage and customs. Peters told Mary about her personal inspiration for writing the story, and how she puts some of her own characteristics in her characters.

ClubCalvi.com

Audio excerpted courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio from The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters, read by Julia Ulayok Davis. © 2026 Amanda Peters, ℗ 2026 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 years ago, the daytime drama "All My Children" was cancelled ending Susan Lucci's iconic, 41-year portrayal as Erica Kane. It was one of the most famous roles on television. Lucci would continue to have success on screen and stage. At her side was her beloved husband of five decades, Helmut Huber. He died in 2022.

Marry Calvi talks to Lucci about her recent memoir, "La Lucci," in which she shares her deeply personal journey of overcoming grief and how she found her way into the light.

Lucci also talked about how growing up and continuing to live in her hometown of Garden City, Long Island, grounds her, her gratitude to her friends, finally winning a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Actress on her 19th nomination for playing Erica Kane, and how she almost didn't take the role.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary Calvi talks with New York Times bestselling author Ariel Lawhon about her new historical adventure novel "The Pirate Queen," and about the compelling character Lawhon calls "ferocious."

"The Pirate Queen" is one of the most anticipated books of the year, and Lawhon's latest after her 2023 novel "The Frozen River" spent weeks on bestseller lists. "The Pirate Queen" is based on the legendary life of Grace O'Malley, an Irish chieftain and privateer who fought for her clan and who is omitted from official Irish history.

Lawhon reveals to Mary the moment, during a trip to Ireland, that she felt connected to O'Malley, and how "savage" she decided to make O'Malley as she faced violent challenges. Lawhon also explains how she lays herself bare on the page and how there's a little bit of her in her characters.

ClubCalvi.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Harlan Coben, the New York Times bestselling author of three dozen novels, with 100 million books in print, and more than a dozen of his thrillers adapted for the screen, talks to Mary Calvi about his memoir on writing, get ready to take notes.

Coben shares with Mary his personal and professional journey, his early struggles, his creative process, and his straightforward rules for creating. He tells Mary why he doesn't accept the excuse from aspiring authors that there's no time to write, why he says research is secondary, and how he practiced "incremental ambition." He talks about why he didn't immediately give up his full-time job, the breakout book that changed everything, the questions he asks himself while writing, and how fame can mess with your head.

Coben also gives Mary a preview of what to expect on the next season of "Harlan Coben’s Final Twist," a true-crime docuseries on CBS where he compares and contrasts real-life cases to his fictional stories.

ClubCalvi.com

Audio excerpted from PLOT TWIST: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft: A Memoir on Writing by Harlan Coben, published on September 8, 2026. Copyright © 2026 by Harlan Coben. Used by arrangement with Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. All rights reserved. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brenda Janowitz is an author very familiar to Club Calvi. Her previous novel "The Audrey Hepburn Estate" was a Club Calvi Readers' Choice in 2023. Mary Calvi talked to Janowitz about her new book, the young adult novel "The Introvert's Guide to Kissing in Europe." It's a coming of age story that may have adults remembering their first love and kisses.

The book follows Emily, a high school valedictorian from Long Island who has always worked to be perfect, and who takes a gap year to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother. Along the way, Emily learns to step out of her shell with a new best friend while meeting plenty of boys. Janowitz told Mary that she used her own gap semester in Europe, and her relationship with her grandmothers, as inspiration.

clubcalvi.com

Audio excerpted with permission of Disney Hyperion Digital from THE INTROVERT'S GUIDE TO KISSING IN EUROPE by Brenda Janowitz, excerpt read by Gilli Messer. Brenda Janowitz ℗ 2026 Melissa de la Cruz Studio. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jean Kwok shares with Mary Calvi how an emotionally difficult time in her life led to her writing her first novel of romantic fantasy, "Dominion," and her initial struggles in crafting the book's spicy scenes.

Kwok is known for her works of literary fiction, including her previous novel "The Leftover Woman," which was a 2023 Club Calvi Top 3 FicPick, and her bestsellers "Girl in Translation" and "Searching for Sylvie Lee." "Dominion" is about a young woman with amnesia living in a land that's not her own,  who encounters a fierce warrior as demons threaten to destroy everything.

The book is the first in a planned trilogy, and Kwok reveals details about the upcoming sequel.

clubcalvi.com

Audio excerpted with permission of Penguin Random House Audio from DOMINION by Jean Kwok, excerpt read by Annie Q. Riegel. Jean Kwok ℗ 2026 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices