The Sunday Salon and Women on Journeys...

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine Some university library’s vast reading room. It’s filled with people — students and faculty and strangers who’ve wandered in. They’re seated at great oaken dests, books piled all around them, and they’re all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they’ll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon’s literary intake. Thank you to Deb at ReaderBuzz for keeping us all together on Sundays now and hosting The Sunday Salon!

Most books are journeys. These books are the journeys of three women, all involving their mothers and grandmothers. They are different journeys, but all three of these books have gotten a lot of great buzz in the book world. They all caught my attention...

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward...
Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.

Publishing date for Let Us Descend is October 24, 2023 by Scribner.  Jesmyn Ward is an award winning writer and this is on my wishlist. Mark your calendars for this one!

Another great book came to mind when I was reading about this one - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Two half-sisters whose lives take different paths. One sister marries into money and a life of ease, the other is sold into a life of slavery.  Amazing book and here is the link to MY REVIEW from 2018.

********************

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young... In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

Coming October 17th, 2023 and published by Delacorte Press. I recently received an eGalley in my ereader courtesy of the publisher and am excited to start reading this! Write this one on the calendar because you're going to want to read it!

When I originally read about this book, I thought it sounded like the Sigourney Weaver TV mini series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart  from Amazon Prime. It takes place in Australia though, but it is a family of women who run a flower farm. A Grandmother takes in her granddaughter and raises her from when she was very young. Family secrets, lots of family secrets and an incredibly amazing series. (Warning though, it's only 7 episodes and you'll be wanting more.). And the series is actually based on a book of the same name by Holly Ringland.

*******************

Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly by Marie Bostwick... Esme Cahill thinks she has failed spectacularly: fired from her New York City publishing job, divorced from her husband, and possessing little more than a broken-down car and a pile of unfinished manuscripts, she drives home to Asheville at the request of her late grandmother, Adele, who had begged her, just before she died, to return to the place she grew up.

There she discovers the once-charming lakeside retreat run by her family is sliding toward financial ruin, so with the help of her grandfather, George; estranged mother, Robyn; and a traveling chef Dawes (maker of the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich) they set to work. In the attic, Esme unearths a trove of museum-worthy art quilts, sewn by Adele. Piecing together the inspiration behind them, Esme discovers a forgotten chapter in her family history and her grandmother’s untold story, that of a gifted artist who never received her due.

This is an always-emotional, sometimes humorous, very human novel of what it means to be family—the ties that bind us together and the unintentional hurts that can rend us apart. And, along the way, Esme learns that failure can be the first step toward the life you’re meant to find.

This book caught my eye initially because it takes place near where I live. And also because of the quilts, because I am also a quilter. Published by William Morrow this past May and I have an eGalley courtesy of the publisher to review and can't wait to start reading. You can find this at your favorite bookstore now. 

What's your favorite book journey?

So, that's what I have for you this week! Some great books coming your way and one you can start reading right now! What great books have you been reading? 

Fall is a great time for new books coming out and believe it or not, Fall is officially only 21 days away, so there are more great books coming your way soon and more to come on Chick with Books! 

P.S. If you missed it this week, check out Memoir Monday for a great seaworthy book.

Happy reading... Suzanne