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  • Daria Lavelle on her debut novel "Aftertaste" (July 2025)

    Daria Lavelle on her debut novel "Aftertaste" (July 2025)
    2026/05/20
    Daria Lavelle's debut novel "Aftertaste," a Club Calvi Readers' Choice in the summer of 2025, is a haunting story of a New York City chef whose foods can bring ghosts back from the afterlife for one last meal with their loved ones. The chef opens a restaurant serving closure, but it causes chaos. If you missed reading the book in hardcover, it's now out in paperback. Daria talked to Mary about how her Ukrainian heritage is sprinkled throughout the book and how she landed her book contract. Audio excerpt Copyright © 2025 by Daria Lavelle. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from the audiobook Aftertaste: A Novel by Daria Lavelle, read by Ari Fliakos, Tessa Albertson, André Santana, and Kristen Sieh published by Simon & Schuster Audio, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    14 分
  • Lisa Unger on "Served Him Right" & advice for aspiring authors

    Lisa Unger on "Served Him Right" & advice for aspiring authors
    2026/05/20
    Bestselling author Lisa Unger has an opinion about authors and social media that she admits might generate pushback. She has a rare background for a published author. Before her first book contract, Unger spent years working in publishing, in publicity, helping authors spread the word about their books. She shared with Mary her advice for aspiring authors, how she discovers her characters as she's writing them on the page, being an introvert, and the inspiration for her latest book, the instant bestseller, "Served Him Right." Audiobook excerpted from "Served Him Right" by Lisa Unger, Copyright © 2026 by Lisa Unger Published by Park Row Books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    23 分
  • Laurie Gilmore on "The Daisy Chain Flower Shop" & Dream Harbor

    Laurie Gilmore on "The Daisy Chain Flower Shop" & Dream Harbor
    2026/05/13
    New York Times bestselling author Laurie Gilmore says she never dreamed of becoming an author. The first thought of writing a story came to her while she was pushing her children on a swing. While that story was not published, Gilmore's first book in her small-town Dream Harbor series, "The Pumpkin Spice Cafe," became a social media sensation. Gilmore talked to Mary about the latest book in the series "The Daisy Chain Flower Shop," and how behind the sweet and cozy covers of her books she sprinkles spice in the pages. Audio excerpt from THE DAISY CHAIN FLOWER SHOP by Laurie Gilmore. Copyright 2026. Published by HarperCollinsPublishers. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    22 分
  • Tiffany L. Warren on "A Harlem Wedding"

    Tiffany L. Warren on "A Harlem Wedding"
    2026/05/13
    Tiffany L. Warren is bringing to light the little-known story of love, scandal, and coming of age for the woman who was the most famous Black debutante of the Harlem Renaissance in a new novel "A Harlem Wedding." As the daughter of civil rights icon W.E.B. Du Bois, Yolande Du Bois was at the top of Harlem's elite. The local newspapers tracked her movements. Her father dictated every aspect of her life, but they clashed about her love life. While Yolande loved one man, she married the man her father chose for her. Warren told Mary that while Yolande's wedding to famous poet Countee Cullen was a social event of the year, the marriage was doomed from the start. Warren also talked about the surprising finds in her research. Audio excerpt courtesy of William Morrow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    11 分
  • Adriana Trigiani on "The View from Lake Como" (Aug. 2025)

    Adriana Trigiani on "The View from Lake Como" (Aug. 2025)
    2026/05/06
    Club Calvi is celebrating the paperback publication of "The View from Lake Como" by Adriana Trigiani, a Club Calvi 2025 Readers' Choice. The hardcover edition was an instant New York Times bestseller. The novel is about Giuseppina, a dutiful daughter in Lake Como, New Jersey, who is recently divorced and living in her parents' basement. When her family suffers an unexpected loss, she moves to Italy to carve a new life and possible love for herself. Mary and Adriana met up at Patsy's Italian Restaurant, a New York culinary institution, to talk about their shared experiences growing up in an Italian family, and how Giuseppina came to life on the pages of the book. Audio excerpted with permission of Penguin Random House Audio from THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO by Adriana Trigiani, read by Mira Sorvino. © Adriana Trigiani ℗ 2025 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 分
  • Susan & James Patterson on "The Mother-Daughter Book Club"

    Susan & James Patterson on "The Mother-Daughter Book Club"
    2026/04/29
    James Patterson is perhaps the most popular author of our time with more than 300 million books sold worldwide. He includes Dolly Parton and Viola Davis among his co-authors, but Susan Patterson holds a special place. After nearly 30 years of marriage, James and Susan have released their new novel "The Mother-Daughter Book Club." It's about the reunion of four friends and their daughters in Italy to talk about books, life, and secrets. Susan told Mary how she and James came up with the story, and their trip to Lake Como to live the experiences in the book. James shared the motto that's been driving him for the last few years and how writing with his wife is a beautiful thing. Audiobook used with permission from James and Susan Patterson and Hachette Audio, all rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 分
  • Marie Benedict on fierce women, forgotten legacies

    Marie Benedict on fierce women, forgotten legacies
    2026/04/22
    Bestselling author Marie Benedict has traveled the world for her research into women who have left behind crucial legacies, but their stories have largely been forgotten. Her latest book "Daughter of Egypt," a New York Times bestseller, uses two timelines and two points of view to reimagine the lives of two women: Lady Evelyn Herbert, who was crucial in discovery of King Tut's tomb, and Hatshepsut, who was a powerful female Pharoah of ancient Egypt. Benedict told Mary that these women, and all the women she brings to light in her books, share three qualities. Audiobook Credit: Macmillan Audio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    33 分
  • Sadeqa Johnson on "Keeper of Lost Children"

    Sadeqa Johnson on "Keeper of Lost Children"
    2026/04/15
    Sadeqa Johnson's historical fiction novels have shared the emotional stories of Black women navigating love and motherhood in the 1950s with the book "The House of Eve," and the story of an enslaved young woman trapped in a notorious jail in Richmond, Virginia in the 1800s in "Yellow Wife." Mary Calvi talked to Johnson about her latest book "Keeper of Lost Children," which is based on the woman who found homes for abandoned mixed-race children of Black American GIs and German women during World War II. Johnson and Mary discussed the reasons why these children were left in orphanages, and why Johnson believes their story found her. Copyright © 2026 by Sadeqa Johnson. Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from the audiobook KEEPER OF LOST CHILDREN, read by Ariel Blake, Karen Chilton, Adam Lazarre-White, and Sadeqa Johnson, published by Simon & Schuster Audio, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    10 分