SERENDIPITOUS FRIDAYS: BOOK BEGINNINGS & THE FRIDAY 56 — AUGUST 24

Welcome to some serendipitous fun today as we share Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and as we showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.

To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.

Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!

Today’s choice is The Meryl Streep Movie Club, by Mia March (my copy is an ARC).

 

Description:  In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club, three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration.

Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch’s inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic bedroom–and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night–it’s Meryl Streep month–they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night–and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another.

Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel’s husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she’ll somehow find his father, who he’s never known . . . and Kat is ambivalent about accepting her lifelong best friend’s marriage proposal. Through everything, Lolly has always been there for them, and now Isabel, June, Kat–and Meryl–must be there for her. Finding themselves. Finding each other. Finding a happy ending.

***

Beginning:  Prologue:

Fifteen years ago

New Year’s Day, 2:30 a.m.

The Three Captains’ Inn, Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Silkwood was on.  Lolly’s favorite actress, Meryl Streep, with the shag hairstyle that Lolly had gotten after seeing the movie for the first time, and Cher, who Lolly had always thought was spectacularly fierce.  The word fierce had been applied to Lolly herself, usually by her sister, but Lolly didn’t think she was fierce at all. There was another word for Lolly, and if only she were Catholic, she would spend every day, twice a day, in confession.

***

P. 56:  And now Isabel knew why her aunt had chosen to make it Meryl Streep month again.  Lolly had always said that a Meryl Streep movie was as good as chicken soup, a best friend, a therapist, and a stiff drink.

***

I can’t wait to read this book!  Not only am I a Meryl Streep fan, but I love the idea of this story.  What are the rest of you enjoying today?