What I loved about this book was the witty character and life events of the protagonist, Elizabeth Zott.
The author’s narration and style give the novel a unique voice that engages and moves the reader along at a rapid pace while conveying and addressing the conflict of an intelligent woman having to deal with misogynistic males in the world of medical and academic research.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • Meet Elizabeth Zott: a “formidable, unapologetic and inspiring” (PARADE) scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, GoodReads
"A unique heroine ... you'll find yourself wishing she wasn’t fictional." —Seattle Times…
It is a unique Victorian novel on a Dickensian scale depicting the young life of a boy in Appalachia and his survival of institutional poverty.
“Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.”
I love and admire the author’s care in rendering and incorporating well-researched details in an amazing, entertaining, dramatic story with a compelling narrative style.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
Among my favorite authors, Susan Straight portrays a contemporary multiethnic Southern California through fully realized characters in a unique, dynamic, often shattering story of their lives.
The cinematic movement throughout the novel begins with an amazing journey with Johnny Frias, an Hispanic motorcycle cop, and swells with epic fury in the depiction of indigenous race, cultural history, and family.
One of The Washington Post's Ten Best Books of 2022. Finalist for the 2022 Kirkus Prize and the 2023 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. One of the New York Times' 10 Best California Books of 2022 and one of NPR's Best Books of 2022. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.
"A wide and deep view of a dynamic, multiethnic Southern California . . . Susan Straight is an essential voice in American writing and in writing of the West." ―The New York Times Book Review
From the National Book Award finalist Susan Straight, Mecca is a stunning epic tracing…
Paper Dolls is the memoir of a girl who becomes a young woman in a passionate search for an enduring friendship.
In the early 1930s, Gwen and Tess Vanderveer were born into wealth and privilege on Boston’s Beacon Hill. As Gwen and Tess grew up, they forged friendships with an Irish ghetto girl, Dove Delany, and Millie Dietz, the cook’s daughter. Their bonds were tested when the beautiful Millie was taken away to New York City high society.
Years later, Gwen learns the truth about her childhood friends and how their actions shaped her own conflicts as a wife, mother, and journalist in World War II and 1950s Florida.
