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Earlier this year, Marjan Kamali followed up her debut novel, TOGETHER TEA, with THE STATIONERY SHOP, a beautiful and timely exploration of devastating loss, unbreakable family bonds and the overwhelming power of love. Marjan spent her childhood in Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran and the United States. Her family thought it was important to create a sense of belonging --- and they achieved that by participating in the traditions and holidays of the many places in which they lived. In her holiday blog post, Marjan recalls returning to Iran at the age of nine and the critical role that books played during their first Christmas back --- and in the years that followed.

Marjan Kamali

Marjan Kamali, born in Turkey to Iranian parents, spent her childhood in Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran and the United States. She holds degrees from UC Berkeley, Columbia University and New York University. Her work has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in two anthologies: TREMORS and LET ME TELL YOU WHERE I'VE BEEN. An excerpt from THE STATIONERY SHOP was published in Solstice Literary Magazine and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Betty Bender

Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile... initially scared me to death.

Attribution

Betty Bender

Lucy Maud Montgomery

[O]ne can dream so much better in a room where there are pretty things.

Attribution

Lucy Maud Montgomery, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

December 13, 2019

Well, this has been one very hectic week. First, thanks to our readers who sent me birthday wishes. I am very behind on replying, but so very grateful to all who wrote. The celebrating began Friday with a wonderful box of truffles from my friend Danielle that has been such fun to enjoy. It’s a really tasty collection of 21 “cosmic inspired” truffles that are “infused with Moldavite crystal energy and angelic vibrational frequencies.” Each truffle is paired with a detailed story about the accompanying zodiac sign and is “infused with vibrations from the Earth.” It’s totally woo-woo and completely fun, as well as delicious. Cory, Sam, Tom and I did a tasting ceremony last weekend; Greg is allergic to tree nuts, so there were no arguments about who was going to eat Aquarius!

Beatriz Williams, author of The Wicked Redhead: A Wicked City Novel

It’s 1924, and Ginger Kelly has fled south to safety in the company of disgraced Prohibition agent Oliver Anson Marshall and her newly orphaned young sister, Patsy. But then Marshall is reinstated to the agency with suspicious haste and put to work patrolling for rumrunners on the high seas, from which he promptly disappears. Gin hurries north to rescue him, only to be trapped in an agonizing moral quandary by Marshall’s desperate mother. It’s 1998, and Ella Dommerich has finally settled into her new life in Greenwich Village, inside the same apartment where a certain redheaded flapper lived long ago. Ella is eager to piece together the history of the mysterious Gin Kelly, whose only physical trace is a series of rare vintage photograph cards for which she modeled before she disappeared.

Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other

Bernardine Evaristo is the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and the first black woman to receive this highest literary honor in the English language. GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity, and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class.

Janet Evanovich, author of Twisted Twenty-Six: A Stephanie Plum Novel

Grandma Mazur has decided to get married again --- this time to a local gangster named Jimmy Rosolli. If Stephanie has her doubts about this marriage, she doesn't have to worry for long, because the groom drops dead of a heart attack 45 minutes after saying "I do." A sad day for Grandma Mazur turns into something far more dangerous when Jimmy's former "business partners" are convinced that his new widow is keeping the keys to a financial windfall all to herself. But the one thing these wise guys didn't count on was the widow's bounty hunter granddaughter, who will do anything to save her.

Editorial Content for Genesis

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Christine M. Irvin

Dr. Aria Nichols is a pathology resident at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. She is bored with her assignments as most of the time she is made to just stand around and watch procedures. Read More

Teaser

When the body of social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, it appears she was the victim of a drug overdose. But Kera's family and friends swear she never touched drugs. And although Kera was 10 weeks pregnant, nobody knows who the father was --- or what he might know about Kera's final moments alive. With Laurie temporarily sidelined by a medical emergency, her new pathology resident, Dr. Aria Nichols, turns to a controversial new technique: collaborating with experts at a start-up ancestry website to trace the fetus's DNA in the hopes of identifying the mystery father. But when Kera's fellow social worker is murdered, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want Kera's secrets to come to light.

Promo

When the body of social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, it appears she was the victim of a drug overdose. But Kera's family and friends swear she never touched drugs. And although Kera was 10 weeks pregnant, nobody knows who the father was --- or what he might know about Kera's final moments alive. With Laurie temporarily sidelined by a medical emergency, her new pathology resident, Dr. Aria Nichols, turns to a controversial new technique: collaborating with experts at a start-up ancestry website to trace the fetus's DNA in the hopes of identifying the mystery father. But when Kera's fellow social worker is murdered, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want Kera's secrets to come to light.

About the Book

An ancestry database holds the key to catching a killer in this explosive medical thriller from New York Times bestselling author Robin Cook.

When the body of social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, it appears she was the victim of a drug overdose. But for Laurie and her new pathology resident, the brilliant Dr. Aria Nichols, little things aren't adding up. Kera's family and friends swear she never touched drugs. Administrators from the hospital where Kera worked insist the case be shrouded in silence. And although Kera was 10 weeks pregnant, nobody knows who the father was --- or what he might know about Kera's final moments alive.

With Laurie temporarily sidelined by a medical emergency, impulsive Aria turns to a controversial new technique: collaborating with experts at a start-up ancestry website to trace the fetus's DNA in the hopes of identifying the mystery father. But when Kera's fellow social worker is murdered, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want Kera's secrets to come to light...and if Aria gets any nearer to the truth, she and Laurie might find themselves a killer's next targets.

Audiobook available, read by George Guidall

Editorial Content for If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

True-crime books tend to divide their focus between the crimes themselves, the criminal, and the investigative and judicial procedures. Prolific true-crime author and novelist Gregg Olsen takes a different approach in his latest effort, IF YOU TELL. The book centers on the experiences and survival of the daughters of Michelle Knotek, who was convicted of two murders but is guilty of much more than that. Though coverage of Knotek and her crimes was not as sensational or well publicized as other similar cases, the details are equally horrific. Read More

Teaser

After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now. For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

Promo

After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now. For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

About the Book

#1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen’s shocking and empowering true-crime story of three sisters determined to survive their mother’s house of horrors.

After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.

For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

Harrowing and heartrending, IF YOU TELL is a survivor’s story of absolute evil --- and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today --- loving, loved and moving on.

Audiobook available, read by Karen Peakes