Currently-lives in Providence, Rhode IslandĪnn Hood is an American novelist and short story writer she has also written nonfiction.

Awards-Pushcart Prize (twice) Best American Spiritual Writing Award Paul Bowles.

Education-B.A., University of Rhode Island graudate studies New York University.The group’s goal throughout the year is for each member to present the book that matters most to them.Īva rediscovers a mysterious book from her childhood-one that helped her through the traumas of the untimely deaths of her sister and mother.Īlternating with Ava’s story is that of her troubled daughter Maggie, who, living in Paris, descends into a destructive relationship with an older man.Īva’s mission to find that book and its enigmatic author takes her on a quest that unravels the secrets of her past and offers her and Maggie the chance to remake their lives. ( From the publisher.) Ava’s wine-emboldened commentaries at book club and May-December dalliance with a hipster club member add just-right notes of awkward hilarity to the saga of a middle-age woman who finds herself reluctantly separated.An enthralling novel about love, loss, secrets, friendship, and the healing power of literature, by the bestselling author of The Knitting Circle.Īva’s twenty-five-year marriage has fallen apart, and her two grown children are pursuing their own lives outside of the country.Īva joins a book group, not only for her love of reading but also out of sheer desperation for companionship.

Book club slackers will recognize Ava’s tricks to get through books she can’t quite face: Rent the movie if no CliffsNotes version exists.

In The Book That Matters Most (Norton, 358 pp, *** stars out of four) author Ann Hood ( The Knitting Circle) cleverly stitches Ava’s story with that of her troubled daughter, Maggie, weaving in a childhood mystery for a novel that deserves a spot on your summer reading list.Īva nurses her heartbreak among the warm-hearted members of a quirky book club whose theme for the year is the books that had the most impact on their lives. Let’s start out by saying that it’s a relief to read anything in which the villain’s weapon of choice is a knitting needle. A late-night ping on her husband’s cellphone reveals that nice-guy Jim - the kind of man who is there for just about everybody except his own family - has been having an affair with a yarn bomber.

The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood