Stuff
Product Details
Downtown Press, November 2009
Trade Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN-10: 1439107173
ISBN-13: 9781439107171
Description
IS THE HALF SISTER THAT REBECCA STRAND
HAS NEVER MET SHORT? TALL? RICH? POOR? PRETTY?
FUNNY? MARRIED? LONELY? HAPPY?...
Rebecca is about to find out. The New York City paralegal thought nothing could shake her life off its fast track -- which includes her handsome lawyer boyfriend and their extravagant condo. The shocking revelation that she even has a half sister comes from her dying father, in a hospital bed confession of a long-past summer affair...and now the dad she adores has one last wish: would Rebecca deliver a cache of letters he never sent to his other daughter, Joy Jayhawk, in a tiny coastal Maine town?
But when Rebecca arrives in Wiscasset, with the life-changing letters stashed in a leather box, nothing goes as she imagined -- and Joy Jayhawk is less than thrilled to meet her. Joy already has her own life, her own family, and her own business: she runs a bus tour for singles, a matchmaking excursion that's brought lovers together, healed broken hearts, and changed lives. Rebecca joins the singles tour in the hopes of unlocking a door into Joy's life and forming a relationship with the only family she has left. But as she spends more and more time with Joy and the women who dub themselves The Divorced Ladies Club of Wiscasset -- and starts a flirtation with a seriously hunky local carpenter -- Rebecca realizes it's her life and heart that are ready for healing and change...and that sometimes, you just have to go along for the ride.
How did you come to write this book?
Several years ago, I received a startling email out of the blue: "I think you might be my half-sister." (And I was.) What interesting and soul-searching questions this inspired: what does family truly mean? How much weight should DNA have? What happens now? I didn't know, so I found myself writing about a woman who discovers she has a half-sister she never knew existed and I sent her off to find her. Only the very nugget of the idea of The Secret of Joy is autobiographical; I flipped everything else on its head. But the emotional impact, the questions, the wondering...all very real!
"A warm hug of a book. Insightful, wise, and romantic, it's as inviting as the small-town life it depicts."
-- CLAIRE LAZEBNIK, author of The Smart One and the Pretty One
"A special story by a special author. The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate opened my heart, made me laugh, cry, and smile all at the same time. A don't-miss read!"
-- New York Times bestselling author CARLY PHILLIPS
WCSH-TV, December 23, 2009
...MELISSA SENATE Maine author Melissa Senate has just published her latest book, 'The Secret of Joy.' It tells the story of a New York City paralegal who's life is turned ...
WCSH-TV, December 23, 2009
...Maine author Melissa Senate has just published her latest book, 'The Secret of Joy.' It tells the story of a New York City paralegal who's life is turned upside down when she ...
Portland Press Herald, November 19, 2009
...Portland author Melissa Senate will be signing copies of her new novel 'The Secret of Joy' (Downtown Press, $15). The book centers around a 28-year-old woman working as a paralegal in New York ...
Melissa Senate's Books
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Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume"I wonder if Judy Blume really knows how many girls' lives she affected. I wonder if she knows that at least one of her books made a grown woman...Read More
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