They are not flashy or showy, they don’t crank out a book every 3 months whether we want to hear from them or not, they will probably never be a Lifetime Made For TV Movie and they never get the splashy, expensive 2 page spread in the New York Times Book Review.
But they consistently deliver great writing and stories well told.Two such writers have new books out and they are deserving of word of mouth praise. 

The first is Good Things I Wish You, by A. Manette Ansay.

Ansay tells the story of middle aged Jeanette a woman struggling to write the story of the famous pianist Clara Schumann and her relationships with her composer husband Robert and his protégé Johannes Brahms.  When she meets the mysterious German Hart on a blind date she finds herself on a journey very similar to that of her subject Clara.  Hart insists that “there are things about men and women that do not change” no matter what the century or place.  This is a rich and lovely story about love and friendship. 

Joyce Maynard’s new novel is entitled Labor Day.  Henry is a 13 year old boy living with his divorced mother who seems to be teetering on the edge of agoraphobia.  When they encounter a mysterious stranger while buying school supplies their lives change forever.  I began this book yesterday morning on my day off.  I truly had all good intentions of finishing the cleaning of the basement.   But this book kept haunting me. I would find myself bargaining internally so that I could slip back out to the porch and read some more with a minimum of guilt.  This wonderful coming of age story about love and redemption has to be one of my favorite reads of the year so far.