The Jane Healey Happy Hour

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The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi May 08, 2023

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New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi joins Jane Healey to talk about her new novel, The Perfumist of Paris.
Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents.
She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.
Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris Feb 25, 2023

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New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris joins Jane Healey to discuss her new novel, The Ways We Hide, a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path.

The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy Jan 26, 2023

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Paulette Kennedy joins Jane Healey to discuss her new novel, The Witch of Tin Mountain, a witchy southern gothic set in rural Northern Arkansas during the Great Depression from Lake Union Publishing.

The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Loigman Dec 01, 2022

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Jane Healey welcomes Lynda Cohen Loigman, the bestselling author of The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters, to talk about her new novel, The Matchmaker's Gift. It's a heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to utilize their unique gift of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places.

Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen Oct 30, 2022

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Bestselling author Rhys Bowen is Jane Healey's latest guest to discuss her new novel, Where the Sky Begins. A woman’s future is determined by fate and choice in a gripping WWII novel about danger, triumph, and second chances by the New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Tuscan Child.

London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go.

Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Awed as she is by the magnificent landscape, Josie sees opportunity. Josie convinces Miss Harcourt to let her open a humble tea shop, seeing it as a chance for everyone to begin again. When Josie meets Mike Johnson, a handsome Canadian pilot stationed at a neighboring bomber base, a growing intimacy brings her an inner peace she’s never felt before. Then Stan returns from the war.

Now a threat looms larger than anyone imagined. And a dangerous secret is about to upend Josie’s life again. Her newfound courage will be put to the test if she is to emerge, like a survivor, triumphant.

Unnatural Creatures by Kris Waldherr Oct 21, 2022

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This book pick for Historical Happy Hour is perfect for Halloween! Please join Jane Healey and the fabulous author Kris Waldherr as we celebrate the launch of her latest novel Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women.

Some tales aren't what you think. For the first time, the untold story of the three women closest to Victor Frankenstein is revealed in a dark and sweeping reimagining of Frankenstein by the author of The Lost History of Dreams and Doomed Queens.

Kris Waldherr’s books for adults and children include The Lost History of Dreams, Bad Princess, Doomed Queens, and The Book of Goddesses. The Lost History of Dreams received a Kirkus starred review and was called "an unexpected delight" by Booklist. The New Yorker praised Doomed Queens as “utterly satisfying” and “deliciously perverse.” The Book of Goddesses was a One Spirit/Book-of-the-Month Club’s Top Ten Most Popular Book. Her picture book Persephone and the Pomegranate was lauded by the New York Times Book Review for its “quality of myth and magic.” Her fiction has won fellowships from the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, and a works-in-progress reading grant from Poets & Writers. Upcoming books include Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women.
#historicalfiction #fiction #janehealey

The Thread Collectors by Alyson Richman and Shaunna Edwards Sep 15, 2022

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Jane Healey discusses The Thread Collectors by Alyson Richman and Shaunna Edwards. 1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not only her efforts but her love for William, a Black soldier and a brilliant musician.

Meanwhile, in New York City, a Jewish woman stitches a quilt for her husband, who is stationed in Louisiana with the Union Army. Between abolitionist meetings, Lily rolls bandages and crafts quilts with her sewing circle for other soldiers, too, hoping for their safe return home. But when months go by without word from her husband, Lily resolves to make the perilous journey South to search for him.

As these two women risk everything for love and freedom during the brutal Civil War, their paths converge in New Orleans, where an unexpected encounter leads them to discover that even the most delicate threads have the capacity to save us. Loosely inspired by the authors' family histories, this stunning novel will stay with readers for a long time.

Power Panel - Piper Huguley, Libbie Grant and Aimie K. Runyan Jun 15, 2022

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Three Fabulous Authors: Piper Huguley, Libbie Grant and Aimie K. Runyan. Jane Healey welcomes them together to celebrate the launch of Piper Huguley’s novel, By Her Own Design. It's the incredible untold story of how Ann Lowe, a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves, rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design and create one of America's most famous wedding dresses of all time for Jackie Kennedy. NYT Bestselling author Kate Quinn says Huguley has crafted a “heroine for the ages."

The Next Ship Home by Heather Webb Jun 02, 2022

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Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. In 2019, Meet Me in Monaco was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to fifteen languages. Up and coming, her next solo novel, The Next Ship Home, is inspired by true events and reveals the dark secrets of Ellis Island as two unlikely friends challenge a corrupt system, altering their fate and the lives of the immigrants that come after them, out in Feb 2022. Check her website for more details on release dates and book club visits.

Angels of the Pacific by Elise Hooper Apr 27, 2022

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Jane Healey welcomes the fabulous Elise Hooper to discuss her latest novel Angels of the Pacific. Inspired by the extraordinary true stories of World War II’s American Army nurses famously known as the Angels of Bataan and the unsung contributions of Filipinas of the resistance, this novel transports us to a remarkable era of hope, bravery, perseverance, and ultimately—victory.

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