The best books on women with pasts and futures

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve heard stories of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, how the soldiers returning from WWI were infected and then spread the disease to every town throughout the United States, and that most who died were very young. The Twenties were exciting times and came immediately after the pandemic. With so much death among young people, those who survived wanted to live life recklessly.


I wrote...

Dead Eyes In Late Summer

By Renee Ebert,

Book cover of Dead Eyes In Late Summer

What is my book about?

A Fantasy novel where two brothers love the same young woman, Adelyn. One is Innis, her dead former lover and the other is Garnett, her husband and Innis’s brother.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Outlander

Renee Ebert Why did I love this book?

Claire moving in and out of another world has a similar theme in my own book. The idea of traveling back in time is one of the most favorite themes because it suggests discovering and embracing what once was and can no longer be. That is why Book I is so fascinating for me and Gabaldon has written it so realistically that I found it influenced how my character experienced the Sideways World.

By Diana Gabaldon,

Why should I read it?

33 authors picked Outlander as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.

One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!
 
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and…


Book cover of Twilight

Renee Ebert Why did I love this book?

This novel and the film captured the imagination of millions of readers and then moviegoers. In my local theater I was told that mature women were among the largest group of fans, which may have inspired me to write a fantasy novel. 

Fantasy allows us to include a "possible" world, satisfying dreams we may have had. The courtship of the sixteen-year-old Bella corresponds to the sixteen-year-old Adelyn. Their suitors are also similar, Edward may be eighteen when he became fixed in time, but he is worldly in his experiences which continued to grow as the years passed by. So Adelyn's first love, the proverbial "older man" in Innis Crawford, attracted her, and knew how to court her and fire her imagination. 

By Stephenie Meyer,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Twilight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

When 17 year old Isabella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father she expects that her new life will be as dull as the town.

But in spite of her awkward manner and low expectations, she finds that her new classmates are drawn to this pale, dark-haired new girl in town. But not, it seems, the Cullen family. These five adopted brothers and sisters obviously prefer their own company and will make no exception for Bella.

Bella is convinced that Edward Cullen in particular hates her, but she feels a strange attraction to him, although his hostility…


Book cover of The Great Gatsby

Renee Ebert Why did I love this book?

The Great Gatsby – the novel is thoroughly steeped in the Twenties.

The Great Gatsby celebrates the Roaring Twenties because its writer, Scott Fitzgerald lived through that magical time, when all things became possible; short skirts, girls meeting boys without chaperones, dancing all night; the world was very young. 

A second reason to feature this novel is its recent film with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Gatsby.

By F. Scott Fitzgerald,

Why should I read it?

21 authors picked The Great Gatsby as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As the summer unfolds, Nick is drawn into Gatsby's world of luxury cars, speedboats and extravagant parties. But the more he hears about Gatsby - even from what Gatsby himself tells him - the less he seems to believe. Did he really go to Oxford University? Was Gatsby a hero in the war? Did he once kill a man? Nick recalls how he comes to know Gatsby and how he also enters the world of his cousin Daisy and her wealthy husband Tom. Does their money make them any happier? Do the stories all connect? Shall we come to know…


Book cover of Second Glance

Renee Ebert Why did I love this book?

This Picoult novel, written close to the time I began to shape my book, asks whether we can love across time. While the theme is much more grounded in practical and natural circumstances, the fact that the question is teased out in this novel helps shape the same question my character, Adelyn, finds herself embroiled in. Is Innis capable of breaking the barrier using the strength of a first love?

By Jodi Picoult,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Second Glance as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
'Compelling, surprising and entertaining' Heat

Since the death of his fiancee Aimee, Ross Wakeman has been unable to fill the hole she has left in his life. Seeking to end his pain, he becomes a ghost hunter, despite never having seen a ghost.

However, when his job leads him to the town of Comtosook, it becomes apparent that Ross isn't the only one haunted by the past. When he meets the mysterious Lia, who brings him to life for the first time in years, redemption seems around the corner.

But the discoveries that await him are beyond…


Book cover of Mrs. Dalloway

Renee Ebert Why did I love this book?

Read this incredibly honest work as it stands as testimony that nothing ever changes in the world, such that WWI and the entitled rich will always be there. They are testimony to the two worlds, one we live in and one we suspect is lived right next door. Mrs. Dalloway's simpering thoughts on what she'll wear at tonight's party stand without apology next to the young man suffering from "battle fatigue" or what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

By Virginia Woolf,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Mrs. Dalloway as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The working title of Mrs. Dalloway was The Hours. The novel began as two short stories, "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister". It describes Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host in the evening, and the ensuing party. With an interior perspective, the story travels forward and back in time and in and out of the characters' minds to construct an image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure.


In October 2005, Mrs. Dalloway was included on Time's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since Time debuted in 1923.


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The Oracle of Spring Garden Road

By Norrin M. Ripsman,

Book cover of The Oracle of Spring Garden Road

Norrin M. Ripsman Author Of The Oracle of Spring Garden Road

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Too often, I find that novelists force the endings of their books in ways that aren’t true to their characters, the stories, or their settings. Often, they do so to provide the Hollywood ending that many readers crave. That always leaves me cold. I love novels whose characters are complex, human, and believable and interact with their setting and the story in ways that do not stretch credulity. This is how I try to approach my own writing and was foremost in my mind as I set out to write my own book.

Norrin's book list on novels that nail the endings

What is my book about?

The Oracle of Spring Garden Road explores the life and singular worldview of “Crazy Eddie,” a brilliant, highly-educated homeless man who panhandles in front of a downtown bank in a coastal town.

Eddie is a local enigma. Who is he? Where did he come from? What brought him to a life on the streets? A dizzying ride between past and present, the novel unravels these mysteries, just as Eddie has decided to return to society after two decades on the streets, with the help of Jane, a woman whose intelligence and integrity rival his own. Will he succeed, or is…

The Oracle of Spring Garden Road

By Norrin M. Ripsman,

What is this book about?

“Crazy Eddie” is a homeless man who inhabits two squares of pavement in front of a bank in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. In this makeshift office, he panhandles and dispenses his peerless wisdom. Well-educated, fiercely intelligent with a passionate interest in philosophy and a profound love of nature, Eddie is an enigma for the locals. Who is he? Where did he come from? What brought him to a life on the streets? Though rumors abound, none capture the unique worldview and singular character that led him to withdraw from the perfidy and corruption of human beings. Just as Eddie has…


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