Since I review books now and then, publishers and authors regularly send me ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) to read and consider. I choose not to write negative reviews, but if I can give a book a strong star rating, I’ll share my thoughts about it on book sites and social media and, sometimes, here.

Today I have a GEM for you that launches on May 17. You’ll want to preorder this one.

Remember Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winner Olive Kitteridge? Well, Linda MacKillop’s The Forgotten Life of Eva Gordon brought Olive to mind by the time I’d turned twenty pages. It’s that good—and more: where Olive gives pause, Eva Gordon captures. She and the rest of MacKillop’s characters landed in my bones, guts, heart—and took up residence. This book is a memorable, utterly beautiful story of perspective and hope.

Here’s the cover copy:

“Eva wants to run away from her life–if only she could remember how.

Failing memory has forced Eva Gordon to move in with her granddaughter, Breezy. But Eva hates the bustle of Boston. All she wants to do is move back to her quiet, cozy Cape Cod home and be left alone.

“Then Breezy announces she’s getting married, and they’ll be moving to her new husband’s rundown family farm, where he lives with an elderly uncle. They’ll be one big family—but only Breezy and Brent think it’ll be a happy one.

It’s all too much for Eva. Too much change, too much togetherness, too much of an over-crowded life she never wanted. But as her desire for privacy collides with her worsening memory, Eva may find herself in a pickle she can’t get out of. Can an unlikely cast of misfit characters step in to woo Eva from her self-imposed isolation?

Fans of A Man Called Ove will appreciate Eva’s predicament, and enjoy the poignant, hilarious, and intergenerational rescue effort to save her from herself.”

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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Now this week’s posts:

Coppersmith.

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Birds of a Feather.

(Skagit Valley Snow Geese)

You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong . . . do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice.”

—Exodus 23:2

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When ideas run dry.

.

Mt Olympus is

in these Olympic Mountains,

in the Olympic National Park,

on the Olympic Peninsula,

65 miles from Olympia, as the crow flies.

🤷🏻‍♀️

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When mallards translate.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

—Romans 12:18

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Upstaged.

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Thanks for dropping by, friends. I’m so glad you did.

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks

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P.S. If you’re arriving here through WordPress Reader or social media and you’re curious about how the writing of a novel unfolds, I invite you to join me as I write my next one. Some weeks only a line or two. RSVP me ( Cheryl@CherylBostrom.com ) with your email address, then check your inbox on Saturdays. 🧡