As soon as I thought about one of my favorite women in history — there are so many! — the poet, Emily Dickinson , came to mind. She was born in 1830 in Amherst, MA, and had only 10 poems published, yet she wrote almost 1800. Nobody really knew about her passion until after she died and her sister found the poems. The sister had a collection published, but allowed the poems to be edited to fit popular fashion (bah humbug!). Only in 1955 did Thomas H. Johnson create The Comple

Women’s History Month has arrived! Every Monday I’ll post a question that’ll hopefully encourage you to think more deeply about the women who’ve been in your lives. My answer to this question: women who help, but if they need it, accept help, too. I’ve found that’s a necessary combo for every character I’ve ever created, and for myself, too, which I discovered while writing BLISS ROAD . I’ll be the first to admit that the second part of that combo is sometimes wicked hard. _

A story that touches on anything Alzheimer’s might seem too heavy from the get-go, but PERFECT LITTLE WORLDS by Clifford Mae Henderson injects so much humor and humanity that I found myself alternately smiling and tearing up. In 1989, Lucy Mustin, a middle-aged lesbian cake baker from Portland, gets a call from her possibly autistic, and definitely neurodiverse sister, Alice, who says she needs help with their dementia-affected mother. Lucy reluctantly makes the long drive

Buy Now To find out you don’t have the same father as your siblings is one thing. To find out your beloved grandma took part in a Nazi secret eugenics program that encouraged healthy women to have babies by men with Aryan features in order to purify the race is a whole other thing. The author of this fascinating memoir, ILLEGITIMATE , does a wonderful job of showing her very young years in the care of her grandmother in Germany, until, that is, her mother returns with an Amer

Buy NOW! Don’t like to buy books without getting a recommendation? Consider following these Instagram bookstagrammers. They’re reading copies of SCATTERED LIGHT , and will post every day with comments and reactions. They’re not shy about giving their opinions! Dec. 1 @katiesluvtoread Dec. 2 @bluefairybugsbooks Dec. 3 @book_a_holic_17 Dec. 4 @reading_mel Dec. 5 @bianca_reads_books Dec. 6 @afelton6212 Dec. 7 @daisyhollands Thank you, Kelly Lacey and Love Book Tours , for organi

Order NOW! I'm so grateful to Haley Blanchard of Readers' Favorite for giving me a 5-star review! Here's the whole review: "Scattered Light by Martha Engber follows Mary Donahue, a smart but cautious lawyer in Chicago who has just won a big case on her 36th birthday. To celebrate, she decides to treat herself to lunch at Herzl's. This is where she meets Damba Rugundi, a law professor and human rights activist from Uganda. Damba is charming and graceful, and what starts as a p

Buy NOW! Though the video has a fun vibe, trauma is a fact of life, and it’s no joke. I come from a background where people told me, “Get over it!” We humans try, but we often can’t. In fact, according to the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress , 70% of the world’s population has been exposed to a traumatic life event. What ends up happening is that the stress and hurt — sometimes consciously unknown to us — comes out in different ways. We’re short with other people. Our

Order NOW! I don’t know about you, but I was reared in a family of three girls. And while the careers back then were only just opening up...

Preorder NOW! I need quiet when I read, but I know a lot of you appreciate audiobooks that allow you to listen while you do something...

by Nina B. Lichtenstein Buy NOW! I’ve never read a memoir with a more unique and organic structure than BODY: MY LIFE IN PARTS . The...

Me and my kids circa 1995 Since I’m still in Costa Rica for Mother’s Day , I thought I’d share what people do in this country on this...

Buy NOW! When taking part in the American Historical Novel Facebook page holiday giveaway some months ago, I asked readers who their...

Buy NOW! Growing up in Chicago , I was used to the city dumping gallons of green dye in the Chicago River to celebrate St. Pat’s Day,...

by Jodi Daynard I love books about midwives , because they play such a key and dramatic role in women’s lives. Jodi Daynard’s THE...

by Cordelia Biddle LISTEN TO ME by Cordelia Frances Biddle is an amazingly inventive book! The author writes from the viewpoint of many...

by Cordelia Frances Biddle LISTEN TO ME an amazingly inventive book! Author Cordelia Frances Biddle writes from the viewpoint of many...

Who’s the woman warrior in your life? That’s the question I asked the women who participated in the American Historical Novels Facebook...

Thanks to Women Writers, Women’s Books for including THE FALCON, THE WOLF AND THE HUMMINGBIRD on its “Recommended Reads” list for...

by Ann S. Epstein As a reader with both biological and chosen sisters, I’m a sucker for stories about sisterhood. But what I didn’t...

Thanks Women Writers, Women's Books for publishing my article, Strong Female Authors and Characters: They Can’t Ban Us All! This is an...