On tis episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett to discuss her new Katie Couric and Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick, Whistler, a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time. Ann Patchett is the author of ten novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, five works of nonfiction, and three children's books whose work has been translated into more than thirty languages. A winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Women's Prize for Fiction, and the Book Sense Book of the Year, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine, and was awarded the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture by President Biden. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She joins us from her home in Nashville—where she is the owner of Parnassus Books—to discuss her new novel Whistler, which has earned a trifecta of starred reviews from Booklist (“entrancing, radiant, and heart-seizing”), Publishers Weekly (“beautiful and generous”), and Kirkus (“death-defying, heart-opening”).

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On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Mary Kay Andrews welcome New York Times bestselling author Annabel Monaghan to discuss her brand-new novel, Dolly All the Time—the GMA Book Club pick for June—in which a hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion. Annabel is the NYT-bestselling and Library Reads Hall of Fame author of It’s a Love Story, Summer Romance, Same Time Next Summer, and Nora Goes Off Script, as well as two young adult novels and Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, a selection of laugh-out-loud columns that appeared in The Huffington Post, The Week, and The Rye Record. After twenty-five years in the suburbs of New York City, she now splits her time between Connecticut and Florida. Her novels have been translated into twenty-three languages. Annabel joins us to discuss Dolly All the Time, which Carley Fortune calls, “a luminous story of love, duty, and the tension between the two” that is “less like a novel and more like a place I never wanted to leave,” and which Elle Kennedy says, “grips you from the very first page and sparkles like the sun.”

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On this episode, the full F&F family gathers to celebrate the launch of our very own “undisputed queen of beach reads,” (Southern Living) NYT-bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews’s new book, Road Trip, which is, of course, our June Pick of the Month! A former journalist with a fourteen-year career in newspapers, including a decade as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, MKA is the NYT-bestselling author of thirty-four novels and a cookbook. Her novel, Summers at the Saint is currently in development with Universal Studios. She joins us before heading out on a massive book tour to discuss her most personal novel to date in which two estranged sisters honor their mother’s dying wish to take a road trip to Ireland to uncover the provenance of a mysterious and potentially priceless family portrait. Publishers Weekly says Road Trip “sparkles,” and Library Journal calls it “a delightful tale with vivid characters.” Celebrate with us in grand F&F style complete with games, a signature cocktail, and lots of laughs!

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On this episode, we are re-airing one of our favorite episodes from the vault! Join us as the Fab Four talk to Steven Rowley about his 2023 novel The Celebrants, and to Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke about their 2023 novel Forever Hold Your Peace. Steven Rowley is the NYT-bestselling author of six novels including The Guncle, winner of 2021’s Thurber Prize for American Humor. His fiction has been published in twenty languages and all of his books are in development for feature film or television adaptation. In this episode, he joined us to discuss his NYT bestseller and Read With Jenna Book Club pick, The Celebrants. Steven’s got a new novel, Take Me With You, coming on May 19th. Best friends for more than three decades, Liz & Lisa have co-authored eight novels in addition to hosting a podcast, and appearing monthly on a San Diego news station to share their favorite book club picks. In this episode we discussed their Father of the Bride meets Bride Wars rom-com Forever Hold Your Peace. We hope you’ll check out their latest novel, The Naysayers, which was released earlier this year. So, as you prep for your Memorial Day weekend festivities, tune in for this interview, now with a brand-new introduction from Kristin Harmel.

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Mary Kay Andrews welcome the multimillion-copy-selling author of The Help, Kathryn Stockett, to discuss The Calamity Club, her bold, big-hearted new novel about a group of unbreakable women, fighting for what's rightfully theirs—and the power of friendship to change everything. Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing. Her first novel, The Help—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—was a #1 New York Times bestseller that has sold over 15-million copies worldwide and was the basis for the Academy Award-winning film. Seventeen years after this cultural phenomenon, Stockett returns with a new novel that Oprah Daily calls, “so immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end.” We cannot wait to talk to her about this eagerly anticipated book that Bonnie Garmus calls “a must-read,” Adriana Trigiani calls, “terrific,” and the New York Times calls, “heart-wrenching [and] often hilarious.”

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome #1 NYT-bestselling author Christina Baker Kline to discuss her new historical novel, The Foursome, a boldly original reimagining of the astonishing true story of two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina — Kline’s own distant relatives — who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam. Christina is the author of ten novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Orphan Train, The Exiles, and A Piece of the World. Her novels have received the New England Society Book Award for Fiction and the Maine Literary Award among other prizes. Born in England and raised in the American South and Maine, she divides her time between New York City and coastal Maine. She joins us before embarking on book tour to discuss her highly anticipated new novel, The Foursome, which has earned starred reviews across the board from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, and which has been called “mesmerizing” and “gripping” by Real Simple, and “daring and deeply empathetic” by The Millions.

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On this episode, the full F&F family gathers to celebrate the launch of our very own “queen of the beach read” (Cosmopolitan), NYT-bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey’s new book Summer State of Mind, which is, of course, our May Pick of the Month! Kristy is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of fourteen novels, including Beach House Rules and the Peachtree Bluff series. A Happier Life is in development for film with MGM/Amazon and The Summer of Songbirds is in development for television with Hulu. There’s good reason why People magazine dubbed Kristy the “go-to for elevated beach reads.” Her latest—featuring a burned out NICU nurse, a former hot shot baseball player turned high school coach, an abandoned baby, and a batty aunt with long-buried secrets—whisks us away to the tight-knit coastal community of Cape Carolina and shows us that sometimes life conspires to bring us exactly where we belong. Join us as we celebrate Kristy’s launch in grand F&F style with special guests, a signature cocktail, games, and laughs galore. Trust us—you do NOT want to miss this one!

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On this episode, Ron Block & Patti Callahan Henry welcome two authors both with new novels about Hollywood icons—Lynn Cullen with hers about Marilyn Monroe, When We Were Brilliant, and Priya Parmar with hers about Katharine Hepburn, The Original. Priya Parmar is the author of the novels Exit the Actress and Vanessa and Her Sister, a New York Times Notable Book, who also writes for musical theater. Her stunning new novel, The Original, plunges into the tumultuous life of screen icon Katharine Hepburn, a star whose passionate spirit and fluid sexuality shattered Hollywood’s rules and redefined what it meant to be a woman in film. Lynn Cullen is the nationally bestselling author of Mrs. Poe and The Woman with the Cure. Her dazzling new novel, When We Were Brilliant, is about the unlikely pair—blond bombshell Marilyn Monroe and serious photographer Eve Arnold—who made a deal that would change both of their lives. We are so excited to talk to both authors about these fascinating new books which paint a vivid picture of two iconic women and their fierce struggle for independence and authenticity in Hollywood’s Golden Age.

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