Category: Research

Ep. 168: Denene Millner on the Story Behind Her Powerful New Multigenerational Novel

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This week, Denene Millner takes us “behind the book” with One Blood, a powerful new novel which follows three women from The Great Migration, to the civil unrest of the 1960s, to  the quest for women’s equality in the early 2000s. This is one of the most compelling, beautifully written books I’ve read in years and I’ve been recommending it to everyone I see.

oneblood

“In delicious, decadent prose, Denene Millner does what few authors can–compose a sprawling multigenerational tale that is necessary American reading. One Blood sings the song of the South in a voice that is heartbreaking, hopeful, and resilient. A masterpiece.” -Tara M. Stringfellow, National Bestselling author of Memphis

 

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About the Author:

DENENE MILLLNER is a six-time New York Times bestselling author, Emmy Award–nominated TV show host and award-winning journalist who has written thirty-one books, she is also the editorial director of Denene Millner Books, an award-winning imprint that has published two Caldecott Honor books, a Newbery Honor Book, the Kirkus Prize for Children’s Literature and a Southern Book Award. A MacDowell Fellow, Millner has written essays for the New York Times, Glamour and NPR, which hosted her critically-acclaimed podcast, “Speakeasy with Denene.” Millner is a graduate of Hofstra University. She lives in Atlanta with her two daughters and their goldendoodle, Franklin. Learn more: https://denenemillner.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Links:

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Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 167: Virginia Pye on on the Literary Women of Gilded Age Boston

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This week, Boston author Virginia Pye discusses The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann, a historical novel which she calls a love letter to books and authors and to the literary city she adores. It came to be as she imagined being a young woman writing books in Boston’s male-dominated publishing industry of the 19th century.

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“The Bostonians meets Writers & Lovers in Virginia Pye’s gossipy and substantive historical novel about women authors and book publishing. Compelling, fierce, and utterly charming, Victoria Swann is a literary heroine for the ages.”
—Laura Zigman, author of Small World

 

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About the Author:

Virginia Pye is an award-winning author of novels and short stories. Her short story collection, Shelf Life of Happiness, (Press 53) won the 2019 Independent Publisher Gold Medal for Short Fiction, and one of its stories was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Virginia’s debut novel, River of Dust, (Unbridled Books), was an IndieNext Pick and a 2013 Finalist for the Virginia Literary Award. Her second novel, Dreams of the Red Phoenix, (Unbridled Books), was named a Best Book of 2015 by the Richmond Times Dispatch. Virginia Pye grew up in Cambridge, MA and moved back after thirty-five years living up and down the East Coast. Learn more: https://www.virginiapye.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Links:

Macmillan Audio

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 162: Madeline Martin on the Secret Libraries of Occupied Poland

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Today Madeline Martin is here to discuss The Keeper of Hidden Books, which is based on the real life heroic efforts of Warsaw’s librarians during WWII.

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“The Keeper of Hidden Books is a powerful and poignant tour de force chronicling the efforts of Warsaw’s librarians and book-lovers to keep Poland’s culture alive during the dark days of the German Occupation. Impeccably researched and beautifully written, The Keeper of Hidden Books reads as a love letter to family, friendship, and the power of literature to sustain, inspire, and endure.”
-Bryn Turnbull, author of The Woman Before Wallis

 

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About the Author:

Madeline Martin is a New York Times, USA TODAY, and international bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance with books that have been translated into over twenty different languages. For more information visit https://madelinemartin.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Links:

Macmillan Audio

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 159: Megan Tady Takes Us to a Vermont Spa with A Romance Writer in Her Sparkling, Heartwarming Debut

Posted in Research, Romance, Summer Reading, WritingTagged , 1 Comment

This week Megan Tady is here to discuss Superbloom, which just released from Zibby Books. It’s a sparkling, heartwarming debut about a massage therapist at a Vermont spa who gets a demanding assignment from an eccentric author that might just change her life.

 

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“Super Bloom is a true delight–hilarious, poignant, and as much of an escape as a spa day in the mountains of Vermont. Who could resist a novel about writers, romance, and the nuances of friendship? Not me! Take Super Bloom along on your next getaway.”
—Amanda Eyre Ward, The New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick, The Jetsetters & The Lifeguards

 

 

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About the Author:

Megan Tady is a writer and editor who runs the company Word-Lift. When she’s not scrutinizing copy, she can be found stocking her free neighborhood library, challenging anyone to a dance-off, or stewing over how Portlandia stole all of her jokes. She’s hard at work on her next novel, Champions for Breakfast, which will also be published by Zibby Books. She’s a corn-fed Nebraska gal who now lives in a quaint New England town with her husband and two kids. Learn more: https://www.megantady.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Links:

Macmillan Audio

 

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 158: Fiona Davis on Capturing the 1950s Rockettes and the Hunt for an Anonymous Bomber

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Fiona Davis is back on the podcast this week to discuss her thrilling new novel The Spectacular, which transports us back to 1950s Manhattan and glamorous Radio City Music Hall with a talented young Rockette and a mysterious bomber terrorizing New York City.

spectacular

 

“Fiona Davis just gets better and better! Nineteen-year-old dance teacher Marion, feeling trapped by her straitlaced father and her upcoming engagement, impulsively auditions for the Rockettes and is soon flung into a sequined world of grueling rehearsals, stage glitter, and four shows per day. When an anonymous bomber targets Radio City Music Hall, Marion’s glittering new life reveals a dangerous dark side and she is flung into the search for a killer–but how can a kick-line dancer help save the city she loves? The Spectacular dazzles from start to finish.” –Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

 

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About the Author:

Fiona Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Dollhouse, The Address, The Masterpiece, The Chelsea Girls, The Lions of Fifth Avenue, and The Magnolia Palace. She lives in New York City and is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School. Learn more: https://www.fionadavisbooks.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Links:

Macmillan Audio

 

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 141 Tori Whitaker Takes Us Into a World of Flappers, Bourbon, and Antique Cars

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Tori Whitaker is back on the podcast this week to discuss A Matter of Happiness, a bittersweet novel about family, hard truths, and self-discovery in which a cherished heirloom opens up a century of secrets.

We discussed how she went about researching this time period, ways her writing process has changed after two books, drawing on her own life for literary inspiration, and much more.

 

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“A thrill of a ride and a beautiful read. Violet and Melanie are connected across generations by blood, bourbon, cars, and a great need for independence. Tori Whitaker unfolds the narrative with a deep sense of history imbuing every sensational page, weaving the women’s stories until the inspiring conclusion. This is a compelling story of women who understand that we can choose our happiness and we can choose our lives. Whitaker crafts a riveting read about strength, fate, and choice that you will not want to put down until the very last page.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savanna

 

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Tori Whitaker is the bestselling author of Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish and A Matter of Happiness. She belongs to the Bourbon Women Association and the Historical Novel Society. Her work has appeared in the Historical Novels Review and Bookmarks magazine. Tori graduated from Indiana University, is an alum of the Yale Writers’ Workshop, and is recently retired from a national law firm where she served as chief marketing officer. She spent a decade in Detroit because of her husband’s career in the automotive industry. The two now reside near their children outside Atlanta and have been married for forty-five happy years. Connect with Tori through www.toriwhitaker.com.

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 138 Sarah Penner on Following Up a Breakout Bestseller and Writing This Feminist, Gothic Mystery Set In Victorian London

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Bestselling author Sarah Penner is back on to discuss her new novel, The London Seance Society, a spellbinding gothic whodunit introducing two enigmatic women who set out to solve a most unusual mystery.

 

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“Penner has conjured up another winner. Bristling with tension and featuring strong women who aren’t afraid to defy conventions, this gothic mystery is both smart and seductive. Haunting in the best of ways, I swear I could feel the London fog on my cheek (or was that a spirit…) as I flew through the pages.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Sarah Penner is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LOST APOTHECARY, which has been translated into 40 languages worldwide. Sarah and her husband live in Florida. To learn more, visit SarahPenner.com.

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 134: Lynne Reeves on Developing Domestic Suspense You Won’t Be Able to Stop Thinking About

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This week, Lynne Reeves is on the podcast to discuss Dark Rivers to Cross, an emotionally charged thriller that explores long-buried family secrets and the deadly reckoning that follows their explosive reveal.

dark rivers

 

“A heart-in-your-throat page-turner that shines a compassionate light on the injustices surrounding domestic violence and the failures of our mental healthcare system.”
—Julie Carrick Dalton, author of Waiting for the Night Song

 

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Lynne Reeves Griffin is a nationally recognized expert on relationships and family life. Writing as Lynne Reeves, her novel of domestic suspense, The Dangers of an Ordinary Night was described by The New York Times as “a sensitive examination of a dysfunctional family and a full-of-secrets community that claims to be seeking the truth.” 

Lynne is also the author of the acclaimed novels, Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books, 2015),  Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster, 2010), and  Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press, 2009). She’s written the nonfiction guides Let’s Talk About It: Adolescent Mental Health (SixOneSeven Books, 2015) and Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment (Penguin, 2007).

Lynne has taught family studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and has acted as the visiting scholar of education at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore and consulted with schools in China about preventive mental health. She teaches writing at Grub Street Writers, and is a developmental editor for writers of fiction and nonfiction.

Lynne has acted as the prose writer-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution, moderated panels at national conferences such as the Muse & The Marketplace Conference, the Boston Book Festival, and the 2020 & 2022 Key West Literary Workshops.

Her short stories, essays, are articles have appeared in Cognoscenti, Solstice Literary Magazine; Chautauqua; The Drum Literary Magazine; Brain, Child; The Writer; School Library Journal; Parenting; Boston Globe; Writer Unboxed; Boston Herald; Psychology Today; Huffington Post, and more.

She lives outside Boston, Massachusetts with her family.

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 132: Marie Benedict on Unearthing the Stories of Fascinating Women in History

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This week, Marie Benedict is on the podcast to discuss The Mitford Affair, an explosive novel of history’s most notorious sisters.

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“In her latest book The Mitford Affair, Benedict plunges readers into a world of glamorous, charismatic young British debutantes and then turns that shiny world on its head. I was blown away–learning this true story of the Mitford sisters and the roles they played for and against the Nazis was nothing short of astonishing. Benedict delivers with all that readers have come to love and expect from her: nuance, elan, and the most delicious storytelling.”
― Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

 

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

​Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms, who found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. Marie’s novels have been translated into twenty-nine languages. Learn more at https://www.authormariebenedict.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 128: Lynda Cohen Loigman on Writing as Comfort, Seeking the Whimsy in History, and Finding Inspiration in Unexpected Places

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Lynda Cohen Loigman joins me today to discuss her new novel, The Matchmaker’s Gift, a heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to utilize their unique gift of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places.

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“Loigman’s latest is a gem. A scrappy Jewish teenager newly arrived in 1920s New York struggles to follow her calling as a matchmaker––seventy years later, her cynical divorce-attorney granddaughter realizes she has very inconveniently inherited the family gift for matching soulmates. Both funny and moving, The Matchmaker’s Gift made me smile from start to finish.”—Kate Quinn

 

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

 

About the Author:

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, MA. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Her debut novel, Two-Family House, was a USA Today bestseller and a nominee for the Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards in Historical Fiction.

Her second novel, The Wartime Sisters, was selected as a Woman’s World Book Club pick and a Best Book of 2019 by Real Simple Magazine. The Matchmakers Gift is her third novel. Learn more at https://lyndacohenloigman.com/

 

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

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Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.