Family Trust by Kathy Wang

Family Trust

Stanley Huang is dying of pancreatic cancer. His family is lurking like vultures. He has millions, right?  His first wife divorced him almost ten years ago. His second wife is much, much younger, and maybe she’s been digging for gold. His son and daughter both live beyond their means. It all adds up to greed. Sounds a little like THE NEST.

There’s  much drama in  Silicon Valley where this Taiwanese-American family live. Kate, the daughter, lives with her do-nothing husband and young children. He’s supposed to be starting a business.  What does he do all day? Is there another woman? Or is it just sloth?  Kate pays all the bills. Wonder how long that will last?

Fred, the son, is about to get himself in deep, deep trouble.  Trouble with work, and trouble with his girlfriend.  This is not the kind of trouble anyone wants.

Linda is the ex-wife. She is my favorite character.  She made me laugh. A woman of almost seventy, she gets involved with internet dating.  Can this even be a good thing?

Then there’s Mary, the second wife. The woman half Stanley’s age. Is she sincere, or is she  just plain conniving? You’ll find yourself wondering and second-guessing…

In the end this cast of characters are all jostling for position as the clock ticks down toward the end of the patriarch’s life. Tick, tick, tick.

Kathy Wang

With shades of THE NEST, FAMILY TRUST deserves a place of its own. But it shares the same sense of humor. And Kathy Wang is a fresh new novelist who is hitting the book world running.

Kathy sent me such a nice note of thanks recently. I had gotten in touch with the wonderful people at William Morrow to let them know how I loved the book. Kathy then made it a point to call me at Copperfish to thank me again.  She was working on a new manuscript in a coffee shop in California.. I love this girl.

My review copy came from William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I loved it!

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Promised Land by Martin Fletcher

Promised Land

PROMISED LAND is a great sprawling saga that begins where Leon Uris’s EXODUS leaves off.  It’s after WWII.  A refugee family of Jews migrates from Cairo to Israel for a better life, leaving behind the boiling pot Egypt has become.  But it’s not quite the wonder they had imagined. And they find themselves living in a tent city.  Their teenage daughter Tamara is lured into the city one day and befriended by two brothers.  Thus begins a love triangle  that will define their lives and the lives of their families, forever.

I have long been interested in the history of Israel, the seemingly unsurmountable war between the Arabs and the Palestinians.  Fletcher says he began writing with the intent of writing non-fiction. However, he finds fiction seems to humanize the tumult and I for one am thrilled with the results.

Two Jewish brothers and their parents  were forced to leave their home in Nazi Germany.  Fourteen-year-old Peter was sent to America while Arie the younger brother and his parents were shipped off to death camps, Peter was educated and raised with a loving American family. We discover that only Arie survived the horrors of the camp.  And when the novel begins Arie has become a very successful and cocky businessman in Israel, while Peter has become a top Mossad agent in charge of the largest and most dangerous operations.

There’s a lot going on here. Once I found my pace I was off to the races. This is not  an ordinary love story.  Men and women will love this book. It was certainly a learning experience for me.  I had to pay attention and it paid off.

Martin Fletcher

Fletcher’s depth of knowledge shines brightly here.  And lucky us, I’ve discovered this is the first in a trilogy. He’s working on the newest segment which takes us through the next twenty years of history. I am enthralled.

I presented this book as one of twenty big books of the season just last week. It was one of the most requested books. There is quite a lot of interest.

We’ll be carrying this novel at Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida. It will be discounted at 20% off the list price. You can buy in- store or online. We’d love to see you.

Copperfish Books

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

Unsheltered

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this novel.  Barbara Kingsolver knows how to push all my reading buttons.  She’s struck a giant chord yet again with UNSHELTERED. This timely new novel is going to have every reader talking. And every bookclub across America will be putting UNSHELTERED at the top of their to-read list this year.

Told in two time periods and alternate chapters, we first meet Willa Knox who  never expected her middle years to be so riddled with angst. First, she’s lost her job when the magazine she wrote for folded. Then the college where her husband had tenure, closed.  Her mean-spirited Greek father-in-law has been moved into their home and Willa finds herself having to spend large chunks of her day caring for this ungrateful man who is obese and  dealing with life-threatening illnesses.  Toss into the mix her difficult adult daughter Tig and her son Zeke who undergoes a life-shattering event very early on in the novel.  This woman is stressed out. To the max! Makes me feel guilty complaining about a sore toe.

And, did I mention the other big thing Willa has to cope with? How could I forget that.  The house. The house they moved into has been passed to them through the family.  And it’s got no foundation. Literally. Crumbling around them. Truly.

The other story is told in the voice of a science teacher.  Time period 1881. He lives on the same street in Vineland, New Jersey as Willa, only one difference.  Willa lives in 2016.  Thatcher Greenwood is on a soap box to let everyone know about Charles Darwin and his brilliant new book. It’s very controversial and he’s getting a lot of flack.  He may get chased out of town for it.  He’s moved into the house with his new bride and her mother and sister.  It’s complicated.  The house has a crumbling foundation. Yes, even then.  His home life is  almost unbearable.  So he discovers a friendship with the lady botanist next door.

Honestly, I truly related to Willa even though I have not experienced any of the things she deals with in this novel. But she has so much on her plate as a woman, I think all women will take note.  Some of the scenes where she is trying to help her father-in-law made me want to thrash the man.

There are moral, political and social issues in this new novel. It’s  so timely. Who of us ever thought we’d be in the midst of the revolution we are experiencing in this country, right now?  Our worlds have changed.  Kingsolver knocks it out of the park here.

Barbara Kingsolver first came to me with THE POISONWOOD  BIBLE many years ago. It has since become the classic it deserves to be. Barbara moved to a village in the Republic of the Congo in 1963 when she was only seven-years-old.  Her father was a Dr. and he was trying to contain smallpox and leprosy.  They lived in a thatched hut with no plumbing or electricity.  She set THE POISONWOOD BIBLE in that locale. She nailed it, of course.

Her novel, FLIGHT BEHAVIOR, deals with climate change.  THE LACUNA is about censorship. She’s no stranger to controversy.

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kinsolver

lives on a sheep farm in rural Virginia in southern Appalachia.  She’s very unassuming and is a self-proclaimed introvert.  I love that about her.  Her life is very quiet. But her fiction is quite LOUD!

What will this story leave you with? You will be in awe of the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.

My review copy arrived from Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely LOVED it!!

We will have copies of UNSHELTERED by Barbara Kingsolver for sale at

Copperfish Books

Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida on Tuesday, October 16th, pub day.  You can even purchase online from our revised website. We can’t wait to see or hear from you!

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

Becoming Mrs. Lewis

It’s been said that this is the novel Patti Callahan was born to write.  I could not agree more!

Joy Davidman  was the wife of C.S. Lewis. Everyone knows he was a wildly famous writer of both children and adult books. But what is known about his wife, Joy, who was also a writer? In BECOMING MRS. LEWIS we find out all about the woman who was C.S. Lewis’s entire world.

Joy Davidman began corresponding  with C.S. Lewis while married to her first husband, Bill. She was married with two young boys and living in New York state. But something was dreadfully wrong with her life.  Her husband was a failing writer who was also a flaming alcoholic and womanizer.  Joy did everything in her power to “fix” it. Still, it wasn’t working.  Through letters shared with Lewis she kept her sanity, for the most part.  Joy struggled with health issues since a child.  Finally, her cousin convinced her to go to England to get away and heal and work on research for her book.  Of course this would lead to meeting Lewis in the flesh after years of corresponding across the pond.

Lewis and Davidman both had skeletons in their closets. The both had dabbled in communism and had been atheists at one time.  Now that they were Christians they had a lot to talk about.  The blossoming of their relationship over the years did become a love story. An epic and moving story of modern time.  Fresh, sophisticated. Love of each other and love of literature.

Patti Callahan

I want to totally devour all of Lewis’s works now that I have read this novel. I want to pick his brain.  Callahan has written a beautiful novel filled with books, a brilliant mind and great insight to Lewis’s writing.  What a great novel for book clubs to embrace.

My review copy was sent from Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I can’t thank them enough. And, yes, I loved the book!

And The Winner Is….

The Kennedy Debutante

The winner of THE KENNEDY DEBUTANTE by Kerri Maher is Steve Cutler! Congratulations Steve. I know you’ll love it and so will your wife. Your lovely book will come straight from Berkley, a division of Penguin Random House.

I have just a couple questions and answers with the author. Interesting stuff.

Following the lives of the Kennedy dynasty is a bit of an American Obsession. What do you think it is that fascinates people so much about the Kennedy family?

Despite their wealth and power, they are also the American Any-Family. They’ve suffered the effects of alcoholism, workaholism, wars, bad luck, hubris, and poor medical care-just like the rest of us. And they’ve suffered it all so very publicly, which means we’ve also seen them rebound from their many tragedies and bad decisions.

Kick was known as the rebellious daughter of America’s royal family. What made her rebellious for her time?

Though it’s hard to fathom now, Kick made a very controversial “mixed marriage” when she married outside the Catholic Church-even though she was marrying another Christian. 

What do you hope readers will take away after reading THE KENNEDY DEBUTANTE?

I hope that readers might be able to see the Kennedy family with fresh eyes, as I did. I hope that they will be able to empathize with Kick and her parents and siblings, and see them for real people. Readers embroiled in family struggles of their own-especially women who have been made to doubt their own visions for their lives- I hope will find a friend in Kick. 

So there you have it! And then there is that famous Kennedy Curse….

Thank you all who commented. Go forth and read!

What If This Were Enough? by Heather Havrilesky

Heather Havrilesky

A book of essays. But not just any book of essays. This one comes from New York Magazine’s Heather Havrilesky.  And she’s knocked it out of the park.

In nineteen essays, all new and revised and expanded, WHAT IF THIS WERE ENOUGH? investigates the ways we’ve convinced ourselves that salvation can be delivered only in the form of new products, new technologies, and new approaches to our lifestyles. From gaping at celebrities on Instagram and grappling with the anxieties of new platforms and devices, Heather Havrilesky sees us struggling  against the systems that we live within and redirects our attention toward what we have already.  She shows how we’re haunted by these ineffable things -hunger, worry, disappointment-and how sometimes just by describing them, we can begin to break their spells.

Miss Havrilesky tells it like it is. In fine prose and with a fierce sense of purpose and humor, I found myself nodding my head “yes” over and over again as I recognized so much of what she was saying.

I think the most profound statement in the book is ” Face to face, real-time connection to others feels fraught and awkward compared to the safe distance of digital communication. We maintain  intimate virtual contact with strangers but seem increasingly isolated from our closest friends and family members.” Wow, I actually said out loud. I recall a time when I relished a phone call from one of my sons. Now I receive text messages. Sometimes, when I’m really lucky, I get an email.  Happy Birthday is now done on Facebook or through text. Not always, but often. At first I found this disturbing. However, after hearing from friends, I know it’s just become the norm.  I have accepted it.

The prose is delightful and smart. The content is filled with essay after essay that you just might relate to.  It’s just flat-out really great writing.

My review copy arrived from Double Day Publishing. This is one to read and reread. Thanks a bunch.

 

Gone So Long by Andre Dubus III

Gone So Long

I was wandering the aisles at SIBA a couple weeks ago in Tampa when this finished book caught my eye because of the author’s name. This was the only copy. The publisher was not ready to let it go, yet. But they told me to come back at the end of the conference and I could have it. And I did. The rest is history!

Pay attention folks. Most of this new novel by Andre Dubus III takes place in and around Arcadia, Florida. One chapter is actually set in our Punta Gorda. Toward the end you find yourself in St. Pete.  So even though the novel begins in a small coastal town in New England, prepare yourselves to enter the backroads of Southern Florida and the quaint, atmospheric town of Arcadia. Prepare to delve into the world of antiques and get yourselves ready to feel the sweat run down your neck as the heat of the Florida sunshine comes home to roost.

Most of you already know I live in this area. Copperfish Books is located in  downtown Punta Gorda. Arcadia is just a hop, skip and jump up the road. I can’t remember any modern novel being set in this area. I found my heart thumping in my chest as I read more and more. And it got better and better.

I am not going to lie to you about the contents being light. They are anything but. So, what’s it about? Forty years ago Daniel Ahearn  was incarcerated for a horrific act of violence that left him a widower and  his three-year-old daughter fatherless.  Susan is in her forties now and still suffers from that awful night of which she does not remember even though she was actually witness to it all.

This brilliant novel goes back and forth in time and is told in the voices of the three main characters  to allow you a front row seat to then and now.

Daniel Ahearn worked as the “voice” on the midway in a seasonally tourist town on the coast in Massachusetts.   Linda became attracted to him as a young teen. They became inseparable and then Linda became pregnant and they married.  Linda gave birth to a baby girl the spitting imagine of herself. Daniel was so proud. And love abounded, until it became an ugly beast. Daniel became what he later referred to as “Danny” who was a violent and unpredictable other part of himself whom he could not control.  As Danny became more and more jealous of Linda, their lives began roiling out of control until one fateful night when Linda snapped and told Daniel she was going to leave him. And he snapped right back stabbing her in the kitchen of their tiny cottage as their 3-year-old  daughter Susan watched it all.

This brilliant novel mostly set in our backyard begins forty years after Daniel killed his wife and his daughter was taken from him. Daniel spent eighteen years in jail before being allowed out for good behavior. So what has he been doing for all this time? And who has he become? All this and so much more.

Susan has been raised by her maternal grandmother, Lois, who has become a bitter old woman at the age of 82 who is still looking for vengeance. Lois took Susan and left New England all those years ago. Susan has grown up in the small town of Arcadia.  Lois owns and runs an antique shop in the small town.  Susan grew apart from her grandmother years ago.  Yet, suddenly, she decides to “take a break” from her husband, Bobby, and go live with Lois for a time while she is supposed to be working on a book she’s writing.

Susan’s life has been filled with throw away relationships.  She can’t commit.  Even her marriage is not certain. She’s sexually promiscuous and that is putting it mildly. It’s one of the things that’s come of feeling loveless.

Meanwhile, Daniel is in the  late stages of prostate cancer and has decided it’s finally time to find Susan. This is it.

Susan feels drawn to meet her father.  But there is fear and anger keeping her at bay.  However, when he suddenly appears, she is faced with the reality.  This, at the end of the novel. The tension is so high and thick by then that we can’t be sure another crime may be committed.

Andre Dubus III

Andre Dubus is a master storyteller who delves into the emotions of his characters to the Nth degree.  Daniel is not a character to be sympathized with. However, you just might find yourself feeling sorry for this terminally ill ex-con. Maybe.

The slow burn throughout the story becomes a scorching runaway fireball  toward the end of the novel.  You just can’t miss it!

Copperfish Books

We have been lucky enough to book Andre Dubus III. He will appear at Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida at six in the evening, Wednesday, January 23. RSVP at 941-205-2560. You can purchase your copy of GONE SO LONG online on our website or in the store.  If you click on our name under our logo, it will take you straight to the book.

This event is going to be important.  A novel set in Arcadia, Punta Gorda, and St. Petersburg is a case for celebration. We have a lot of questions to ask Mr. Dubus. And we can’t wait to meet him and hear him discuss his amazing book!