#read99women: Alyssa Palombo

Happy Friday! Today’s #read99women guest, like many of our recent guests, has a new novel out (what is it with February this year, seriously?) In a starred review, Library Journal called THE BORGIA CONFESSIONS an “excellent tale of family infighting, jockeying for power, and exploiting the church to attain personal wealth and power,” and added that it “will keep readers enthralled long into the night. Who needs sleep, anyway?” Sounds like a serious case of “one more chapter” syndrome! Hardcore readers know how that goes.

Alyssa Palombo is a writer living and working in Buffalo, NY. She’s a classically trained mezzo-soprano who also dabbles in playing piano. When not writing, she can usually be found reading, hanging out and laughing way too hard at nonsensical inside jokes with friends, traveling (or dreaming of her next travel destination), at a concert, or planning for next Halloween. She’s a metalhead and a self-proclaimed French fry connoisseur. She’s the author of three other historical novels: THE VIOLINIST OF VENICE, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN FLORENCE, and THE SPELLBOOK OF KATRINA VAN TASSEL.

Alyssa Palombo

Alyssa’s recommendation: "I absolutely adored Cass Morris's FROM UNSEEN FIRE; it's one of my favorite books of the last few years. The novel is a fantasy set in a world closely based on ancient Rome, and it has absolutely everything I want in a book: solid research and worldbuilding; a badass, admirable heroine coming into her own power; a dashing hero; a delicious romance; and lots of politics and scheming a la Game of Thrones. The heroine, Latona, is someone I'd love to be friends with - along with many of the other awesome ladies in the cast - and the hero, Sempronius, is utterly swoon-worthy. I love the elegant, well-thought out magic system, and the Roman-inspired background is beautifully detailed and completely immersive. There's a sequel coming soon - this book is the first in a planned series - and I can't wait, just as I can't wait for anything else Morris writes in the future!"

#read99women: Pamela D. Toler

Whenever I do a book event at a bookstore, I like to buy something while I’m there. Most often, of course, it’s a book. This week, I returned to One More Page in Arlington, Virginia, which is basically my happy place. They sell chocolate and wine alongside their books and it’s a rare visit when I don’t leave with some form of all three. This time, the wine was a bubbly called Sauvage, the chocolate was a rather large and fancy take on a peppermint patty, and the book was Pamela D. Toler’s WOMEN WARRIORS.

Subtitled “An Unexpected History,” Pamela’s fabulous nonfiction look at women warriors through the ages earned a rave from Booklist, which called it “thoroughly delightful, personable, and crucially important.” It’s newly out in paperback., which is why it was at the top of my to-buy list, and also why Pamela herself is today’s #read99women guest.

Pamela D. Toler

Armed with a PhD in history, a well-thumbed deck of library cards, and a large bump of curiosity, author, speaker, and historian, Pamela D. Toler translates history for a popular audience. She goes beyond the familiar boundaries of American history to tell stories from other parts of the world as well as history from the other side of the battlefield, the gender line, or the color bar. Toler is the author of eight books of popular history for children and adults.  Her newest book is Women Warriors:  An Unexpected History. Her work has appeared in Aramco World, Calliope, History Channel Magazine, MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History and Time.com. 

For her #read99women choice, Pamela recommends a book called EIGHTY DAYS, which also happens to be one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the past few years. “On November 14, 1889, Nelly Bly, reporter for the popular newspaper The World, sailed from New York on the trip that would make her famous: an attempt to travel around the world in less than eighty days. Eight and a half hours later, unknown to Bly, the literary editor of the monthly magazine, The Cosmopolitan, boarded a westbound train in a reluctant and largely forgotten attempt to beat Bly around the world. Matthew Goodman tells their story.”

Read the full review here.

#read99women: Kerri Maher

If you’ve been following along with #read99women, you already know this, but February is truly a stunning month for new releases this year! So many authors I love have new books coming out. Thank goodness I was able to get early copies of some of them, because my TBR pile is already toppling!

Kerri Maher’s new novel, THE GIRL IN WHITE GLOVES, was one I was lucky enough to read a few months back. I loved it and I think you will too. You can see my blurb on BookBub, and here’s a little teaser: “Kerri Maher's latest novel skillfully delves beyond Grace Kelly's famously cool ice-blue exterior to reveal the passionate, blood-red heart beneath.“

In addition to THE GIRL IN WHITE GLOVES and THE KENNEDY DEBUTANTE, Kerri Maher is also the author of This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World under the name Kerri Majors. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and founded YARN, an award-winning literary journal of short-form YA writing. A writing professor for many years, she now writes full-time and lives with her daughter in Massachusetts, where apple picking and long walks in the woods are especially fine.

Kerri Maher

Launching a new book is always a busy time, so I’m thrilled Kerri was able to make time to share a #read99women recommendation with us! Here it is: WE ARE THE LUCKIEST by Laura McKowen.

Kerri says: “Sobriety is having a moment, on Instagram and major newspapers and morning talk shows, and Laura McKowen's contribution to the conversation is extremely important. In fact, ‘Why aren't we talking about this’ -- i.e. why aren't we talking about why people everywhere are numbing their experience of modern life with one ‘thing’ or another -- is one of the guiding questions of her memoir…. Everybody, whether they think they have a problematic ‘thing’ in their lives or not, could benefit from reading this insightful look at one woman's brave journey.” Read the rest of her great review here.

#read99women: Kathleen Barber

Remember how I mentioned earlier in the #read99women series that the DC writers’ scene is a pretty impressive bunch? Today’s guest is another one of our local bright lights, and if you happen to be in the DC area, you can see her tonight at Kramerbooks launching her brand-new novel FOLLOW ME. (I’d be there myself, except that I’m doing an event for WOMAN 99 a few miles away at One More Page at the same time! But I’m attending in spirit.)

Kathleen Barber’s debut novel TRUTH BE TOLD (originally published as Are You Sleeping) is the inspiration for the Apple TV+ series of the same name, which is produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and stars Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul. Originally from Galesburg, Illinois, Kathleen is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University School of Law, and a former attorney. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and son. FOLLOW ME is her second novel.

Kathleen Barber

My to-read list of thrillers written by women has been growing dramatically as our #read99women series rolls on, and today’s recommendation from Kathleen has added one to the very top of that list:

“Layne Fargo’s debut, TEMPER, took my breath away. A slow-burning feminist thriller set in Chicago’s theater scene, it’s a dangerously seductive story about ambition, obsession, and the capacity for violence that bewitched me from the start and kept me in its thrall until long after I turned the final page.”

#read99women: Sarah-Jane Stratford

I’m delighted to introduce today’s #read99women guest, Sarah-Jane Stratford, whose new novel RED LETTER DAYS comes out tomorrow, February 25. It’s been dubbed ‘thoroughly fascinating’ in a starred review by Booklist, and a ‘crisp novel…that delivers on every level’ by Publishers Weekly. I was lucky enough to get an early copy and officially expressed my love for it with this blurb:

“Fairly singing with tension and triumph, Sarah-Jane Stratford's RED LETTER DAYS plunges you directly into the dark days of McCarthyism, as courageous women writers on the blacklist struggled to win back their lives and careers. Stratford weaves fact and fiction into a tale that serves as entertainment, warning, reflection and homage wrapped up in one highly readable package."

Sarah-Jane is the author of RADIO GIRLS, which has been described as a “crackerjack historical novel” (USA Today) and “an intoxicating look inside a world of innovative new media,” (Kirkus). She holds a Masters in history from the University of York and in 2017 was granted a 5-year visa from the Arts Council in Britain. Formerly a resident of both American coasts (not at the same time), she's now living the expat life in London. She enjoys adventuring around town with her boyfriend, knitting, and is a keen board game player.

Sarah-Jane Stratford

Sarah-Jane’s #read99women recommendation is FUN HOME by Alison Bechdel, and you can find her glowing review in its entirety here on BookBub. A snippet to whet your appetite: “You wouldn’t have thought a woman’s memoir of her closeted gay father, whose suicide dovetails with her own coming out, would feel both personal and universal to the average reader, but that’s only part of the joy of this glorious book. It is funny and witty as well as searingly sad….It’s no wonder the book was turned into one of the best modern musicals this theatre-lover could ever hope to see (5 times).” High praise indeed!

#read99women: Leslie Pietrzyk

There are a thousand ways to get to know fellow authors, including workshops and conferences and friends in common and yes, Twitter or Facebook or whatever social network is hot at the moment. And MFA programs, for those who choose to go the route of getting that (usually expensive) degree, offer another set of possibilities. I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths not just with the writers I met in the MFA program at American University, but others who attended that program at different times. It’s an exciting and varied list of accomplished alumni, including today’s guest.

Leslie Pietrzyk is the author of the novel Silver Girl, released in 2018 by Unnamed Press, and called “profound, mesmerizing, and disturbing” in a Publishers Weekly starred review. Her collection of unconventionally linked short stories, This Angel on My Chest, won the 2015 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Kirkus Reviews named it one of the 16 best story collections of the year, Her previous novels are Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day. Short fiction and essays have appeared in Southern Review, Ploughshares, Gettysburg Review, Hudson Review, The Sun, Shenandoah, Arts & Letters, River Styx, Iowa Review, Washingtonian, The Collagist, Cincinnati Review, TriQuarterly, New England Review, Salon, Washingtonian, Washington Post Magazine, and many others. She has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and in 2020, her story “Stay There” was awarded a Pushcart Prize. Pietrzyk is a member of the core fiction faculty at the Converse low-residency MFA program and often teaches in the MA Program in Writing at Johns Hopkins University. Raised in Iowa, she now lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Leslie Pietrzyk

Leslie’s recommendation for #read99women is an intriguing and challenging novel, and here’s what she says about it:

“WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN by Lionel Shriver is probably my favorite book to recommend...to the right person! It's dark and intense, a nail-bitingly compulsive read, about a woman whose son commits a Columbine-type school massacre (which the reader discovers right away; no spoilers here!). Eva is conflicted about her son: Does she love him enough, or at all? Is it her fault the boy is so challenging to love? Can he sense her ambiguity? What does it mean that his father is able to love Kevin deeply and without reservation? These tough questions circle and tighten until suddenly it's four in the morning and you're not sleeping until you finish the book. (P.S. The movie doesn't do justice. You must witness Eva's voice for yourself through the letters she writes in this epistolary novel.)”

#read99women: Erika Mailman

We’re officially one-third of the way through the 99 recommendations of #read99women, and the hits just keep coming! Today’s is a modern classic for fans of historical fiction, suspense, and plot machinations that take your breath away.

Today’s guest is Erika Mailman, author of THE WITCH’S TRINITY, a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book which Khaled Hosseini called "gripping"; WOMAN OF ILL FAME, which Diana Gabaldon of the OUTLANDER series called, "one of the best books I've read in a long time"; and the award-winning THE MURDERER’S MAID: a Lizzie Borden Novel. She holds an MFA in poetry and has been a Yaddo fellow and Bram Stoker Award finalist. Under the pen name Lynn Carthage, her young adult trilogy includes HAUNTED, BETRAYED and AVENGED.

Erika’s recommendation is FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters. You can read her full review here, and here’s a teaser that will definitely tempt you to add this intriguing historical novel to your TBR pile: “This book does what all great historical fiction can do: let you feel like you LIVE in another time period, sweating its sweat, breathing its fumes. I loved this book and the incredible plot twists and pure energetic FUN.”

#read99women: Kathryn Craft

If my math is right, we’re almost one-third of the way through our 99 recommendations for #read99women! I picked the number 99, of course, because WOMAN 99 is now out in paperback. But when I was brainstorming titles with my editor and agent, the idea of a woman called by a number instead of a name came up as an abstract idea — we didn’t know at first what the number would or should be. I tried out different combinations until one sounded right, and 99 won out primarily because it’s right on the edge of something — the exact feeling I wanted for a novel about a sane woman in an insane asylum. Certainly there may be a point farther along in this series of recommendations when I may wish I’d called the book WOMAN 33, but so far, so good!

Today’s guest is Kathryn Craft, the award-winning author of two novels from Sourcebooks, THE ART OF FALLING and THE FAR END OF HAPPY. She’s also the author of chapters in AUTHOR IN PROGRESS and THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK OF NOVEL WRITING from Writers Digest Books. Long a leader in the southeastern Pennsylvania writing scene, Kathryn leads writing workshops and retreats, works as a freelance developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, and blogs at Writers in the Storm and Writer Unboxed. She lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with her husband.

Kathryn Craft

Kathryn’s recommendation is Glendy Vanderah’s debut, WHERE THE FOREST MEETS THE STARS. ”This is exactly my kind of book: an intimate cast of quirky characters, each bravely trying to surmount the pain they carry by choosing to face life together. Many great insights infuse this tale, filled with all the wonders that Mother Nature and human nature have to offer.”

Read her full review on BookBub here.

THE ARCTIC FURY cover is here!

I’ve been teasing this reveal for a week, and I won’t make you wait even a sentence longer. Here’s the utterly gorgeous cover for my next historical novel THE ARCTIC FURY, forthcoming from Sourcebooks in December 2020!

And here’s a little summary to whet your appetite:

In early 1853, experienced California Trail guide Virginia Reeve is summoned to Boston by a mysterious benefactor who offers her a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: lead a party of 12 women into the wild, hazardous Arctic to search for the lost Franklin Expedition. It's an extraordinary request, but the party is made up of extraordinary women: mountaineers and battlefield nurses, interpreters and journalists, other adventurers. Each brings her own strengths and skills to the expedition--and her own unsettling secrets.

A year and a half later, back in Boston, Virginia is on trial for her life, accompanied by only five survivors. Represented by an incompetent attorney, persecuted by the rich parents of her supposed victim, and desperate to keep her own secrets, Virginia believes her trial is unwinnable. Told in alternating timelines that follow both the sensational murder trial in Boston and the dangerous, deadly progress of the women's expedition into the frozen North, this heart-pounding story will hold readers rapt as a chorus of voices answer the trial's all-consuming question: what happened out there on the ice?

Are you excited? I’m excited.

Click here to mark THE ARCTIC FURY as to-read on Goodreads.

Click here to get your pre-order in!

#read99women: Lori Rader-Day

Did I already mention that there are SO many great books coming out this week? We already talked about Mary Kubica’s THE OTHER MRS. and Sherri L. Smith’s THE BLOSSOM AND THE FIREFLY, and here’s another for the trifecta: Lori Rader-Day’s latest “riveting” (Library Journal) and “harrowing” (Kirkus) thriller, THE LUCKY ONE.

Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award-nominated and Anthony Award- and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of UNDER A DARK SKY, THE DAY I DIED, LITTLE PRETTY THINGS, and THE BLACK HOUR. She co-chairs the mystery conference Murder and Mayhem in Chicago and serves as the national president of Sisters in Crime. Her new book is THE LUCKY ONE, set in a true-crime amateur online sleuth community.

Lori Rader-Day

Lori’s recommendation: A BROKEN WOMAN by Dharma Kelleher.

“When I'm writing, I like to read books that are very different from mine,” she says. “I got that chance when I recently read Dharma Kelleher's A BROKEN WOMAN, from her Jinx Ballou series. (I hadn't read the first books in the series, so it stands alone just fine.) Jinx is a bounty hunter at the end of her rope financially, professionally, and emotionally, from a personal loss, when she's asked to help a transgender woman stay *out* of jail, instead of turning her in, where she's likely to get hurt, or worse. Jinx is a trans woman, so she understands the danger, but she's torn between duty, justice, and a justice that some parts of our society can't count on. Jinx kicks all kinds of doors down, which is really satisfying.”