Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.
My feature today is Instructions for a Heatwave, by Maggie O’Farrell, an ARC from Amazon Vine.
Intro: Highbury, London
The heat, the heat. It wakes Gretta just after dawn, propelling her from the bed and down the stairs. It inhabits the house like a guest who has outstayed his welcome: it lies along corridors, it circles around curtains, it lolls heavily on sofas and chairs. The air in the kitchen is like a solid entity filling the space, pushing Gretta down into the floor, against the side of the table.
Only she would choose to bake bread in such weather.
Consider her now, yanking open the oven and grimacing in its scorching blast as she pulls out the bread tin. She is in her nightdress, hair still wound into curlers. She takes two steps backwards and tips the steaming loaf into the sink, the weight of it reminding her, as it always does, of a baby, a newborn, the packed, damp warmth of it.
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Teaser: He puts a hand to his brow. Conversations with his mother can be confusing meanders through a forest of meaning in which nobody has a name and characters drop in and out without warning. (p. 33)
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Blurb: Sophisticated, intelligent, impossible to put down, Maggie O’Farrell’s beguiling novels—After You’d Gone, winner of a Betty Trask Award; The Distance Between Us, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; The Hand That First Held Mine, winner of the Costa Novel Award; and her unforgettable bestseller The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox—blend richly textured psychological drama with page-turning suspense. Instructions for a Heatwave finds her at the top of her game, with a novel about a family crisis set during the legendary British heatwave of 1976.
Gretta Riordan wakes on a stultifying July morning to find that her husband of forty years has gone to get the paper and vanished, cleaning out his bank account along the way. Gretta’s three grown children converge on their parents’ home for the first time in years: Michael Francis, a history teacher whose marriage is failing; Monica, with two stepdaughters who despise her and a blighted past that has driven away the younger sister she once adored; and Aoife, the youngest, now living in Manhattan, a smart, immensely resourceful young woman who has arranged her entire life to conceal a devastating secret.
Maggie O’Farrell writes with exceptional grace and sensitivity about marriage, about the mysteries that inhere within families, and the fault lines over which we build our lives—the secrets we hide from the people who know and love us best. In a novel that stretches from the heart of London to New York City’s Upper West Side to a remote village on the coast of Ireland, O’Farrell paints a bracing portrait of a family falling apart and coming together with hard-won, life-changing truths about who they really are.
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I’m loving it already! What do you think? Come on by and let’s chat.
This book sounds delicious! I love this author!
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Me, too, Patty….I’m very excited! Thanks for stopping by.
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Yes, keep reading. I’ve had this on in my TBR stack for a few months – may have to move it up the list after reading those snippets!
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I’ve been wanting to read this one….and hope to get to it this week. Thanks for stopping by, Kate.
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This sounds like my kind of book. I would definitely keep reading. And I absolutely love the teaser!!
Here’s my Tuesday intro: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2013/05/first-chapter-first-paragraph-12-and.html
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Thanks, Catherine….glad you could stop by!
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I loved how descriptive the words are. I’ll get the water ready for the tea. 🙂
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Me, too, Jenn….thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your pick.
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Great intro. I can feel the heat! I would keep reading.
Mine is here.
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Good way to describe it, Nise….thanks for visiting and enjoy your read.
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LOL, love that teaser. I know those type of conversations well 🙂 I like the intro too, and the key on the cover, sounds like a good read. Thanks for stopping by my TT today– Book Savvy Babe
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I like the teaser, too; meandering conversations are very familiar! Thanks for stopping by, Heather.
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It looks pretty good. I assume her labyrinthine mind isn’t a result of Alzheimers or anything.
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Ha-ha…Yes, hopefully. Thanks for visiting, Alice Audrey, and have a great day.
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This sounds wonderful! I have The Hand That First Held Mine in my tbr pile.
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Oh, I loved that one, JoAnn…hope you do, too. I have enjoyed every O’Farrell book I’ve read. Thanks for stopping by.
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Another book to put on the TBR list! I love a London setting; I have no problem baking in an already broiling kitchen; and I know a few people who would accuse me of meandering my way through conversations. How I could I not love this book?? 🙂
(Thanks for stopping by my teaser!)
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I think it will be wonderful, Word Jar….and I’m glad you could stop by. Enjoy your week!
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Hmm…not sure what to think of this one. Thanks for visiting!
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Thanks for checking in…..Hope you have a great week, Heather.
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wow, I love the description of the “heat”. I’d keep reading. kelley—the road goes ever ever on
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Me, too, Kelley…I could almost feel it. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your read.
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I like the writing in that first paragraph. This is a new author and book for me. I’d like to read more.
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I have so enjoyed this author through several of her books. Thanks for stopping by, Margot, and enjoy your pick.
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Yes, this looks good. I could definitely feel the heat. Here’s Mine
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That’s how I experienced it, too, Paulita….thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts.
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I love that teaser — very intriguing and a great metaphor!
My teaser is from THE HAUNTING SEASON by Michelle Muto.
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Definitely! Thanks for visiting, Melissa…enjoy your read!
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I do like that first paragraph a lot and am sure I will read this one at some point.
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I like it, too, Diane….and I’m glad you could stop by. Enjoy your book!
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The teaser made me laugh. I’ve had conversations like that.
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I’m familiar with those, too, Shelley…lol; thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your read.
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Nice teaser. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks, Andrea…glad you could stop by!
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Conversations with my mother can also be confusing! LOL
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The teaser resonated with me, too, Autumn. Thanks for visiting…and enjoy your reading.
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