The Road from Belhaven

by Margot Livesey

Margot Livesey's latest novel is set in 19th century Scotland. Orphaned when she was young, Lizzie Craig lives with her grandparents on Belhaven Farm. When she was a small child she discovered her gift of second sight. But she never knows when the "pictures" she sees will happen. When she turns sixteen a tailor's apprentice comes to the farm to help with the harvest. She falls in love with him and he eventually talks her into going with him to Glasgow. But her second sight isn't enough for her to know she's taken the wrong path. Her life has changed, but not for the better. Author Lauren Groff says, "Margot Livesey is an incandescent writer, generous and graceful, always imbuing her characters with astonishing humanity and grace." Author Paul Harding says, "Margot Livesey's prose is so lucid, so precise, and so understated as she goes about conjuring and sustaining the lives of her characters, that the reader hardly notices how deep a claim Lizzie Craig has laid on the heart until is in danger of breaking on her behalf. The only thing I could think to do when I finished the book was to begin again. I didn't want it to end."  

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame

by Olivia Ford

Mrs. Jenny Quinn is seventy-seven and lives with her adored husband Bernard in a small village in England. As they near their 60th wedding anniversary, Jenny decides that she wants to do something just for herself. So she applies to be a contestant on the BRITAIN BAKES television show. And through several interviews and auditions she is chosen for a spot on the show. Fans of THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW will find quite a few similarities as Jenny stands before the cameras and whips, pours and frosts everything from cakes to breads to biscuits. But MRS. QUINN'S RISE TO FAME isn't just about tea loaves and treacle sponge puddings. Jenny Quinn has kept a secret for years. Not even Bernard knows. I really loved this novel. What a delightful read! Author J Ryan Stradal calls the book "soul-searching...absolutely marvelous. Like a great dessert, you'll wish you could come back for more." Author Claire Pooley says, "This novel is perfectly baked. Mrs. Quinn is destined to become the nation's favorite." 

Georgia

by Dawn Tripp

As a fictional autobiography this one ranks right up there. Dawn Tripp brings to life Georgia O'Keeffe's burgeoning art career and her sensual love affair with famed photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz. In 1916 O'Keeffe is an unknown art teacher when she travels to New York to meet Stieglitz, who has discovered her work and exhibits it in his gallery. Their connection is instantaneous, and soon Georgia becomes his mistress, protégé and muse. But over the years, Stieglitz wants more from Georgia than she's willing to give. She begins to push back and make difficult choices to live a life that she believes in. Author J. Courtney Sullivan says, "I devoured this novel about an American icon. Tripp brings O'Keeffe so fully to life on every page, and with great wisdom, examines the very nature of love, longing, femininity and art." Author B. A. Shapiro says, "GEORGIA is a dazzling, brilliant work about the struggle between artist and woman, between self and the other, between love and the necessity to break free of it. The luminous sensuality of the writing glows from every page, drawing the reader into the splendor and machinations of the New York City art world between the wars, revealing both Georgia O'Keeffe and Dawn Tripp as the great artists they are."