GOSSIP: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

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GOSSIP

BY BETH GUTCHEON

ABOUT THE BOOK:

"Did you know that the origin of the word gossip in English is 'god-sibling'? It's the talk between people who are godparents to the same child, people who have a legitimate loving interest in the person they talk about. It's talk that weaves a net of support and connection beneath the people you want to protect."

Loviah "Lovie" French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need "just the thing" for major life events—baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals—or when they just want to dish in the dressing room. Among the people who depend on Lovie's confidence are her two best friends since boarding school: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf.

Outspoken and brimming with confidence, Dinah made a name for herself as a columnist covering the doings of New York's wealthiest and most fabulous. Shy, proper Avis, in many ways Dinah's opposite, rose to prominence in the art world with her quiet manners, hard work, and precise judgment. Despite the deep affection they both feel for Lovie, they have been more or less allergic to each other since a minor incident decades earlier that has been remembered and resented with what will prove to be unimaginable consequences.

These uneasy acquaintances become unwillingly bound to each other when Dinah's favorite son and Avis's only daughter fall in love and marry. On the surface, Nick and Grace are the perfect match—a playful, romantic, buoyant, and beautiful pair. But their commitment will be strained by time and change: career setbacks, reckless choices, the birth of a child, jealousies, and rumor. At the center of their orbit is Lovie, who knows everyone's secrets and manages them as wisely as she can. Which is not wisely enough, as things turn out—a fact that will have a shattering effect on all their lives.

An astute chronicler of everything that makes us human, Beth Gutcheon delivers her most powerful and emotionally devastating novel to date. Gossip is a tale of intimacy and betrayal, trust and fidelity, friendship, competition, and motherhood that explores the myriad ways we use and abuse "information" about others—be it true, false, or imagined—to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another.

PRAISE FOR GOSSIP AND BETH GUTCHEON:

“She has absolutely perfect pitch when it comes to capturing the lives of these remarkable women. This seems to be the quintessential American woman’s tale. I loved it.”— Anne Rivers Siddons

“Lively and engaging...Ms. Gutcheon knows her craft.”— New York Times Book Review“The dialogue is convincing and well-paced. The suspense is strung out for maximum effect. The images are vivid and uncluttered This [is] a book that is tough to put down.”— USA Today“A graceful and elegant novel that explores the unintended damage simmering hostility and sharing confidences can bring, Gossip builds to a stunning and devastating finish.”

— Susan Isaacs, New York Times Book Review

“A graceful and elegant novel that explores the unintended damage simmering hostility and sharing confidences can bring, Gossip builds to a stunning and devastating finish.”

— Booklist on GOSSIP

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bestselling author Beth Gutcheon published her first novel, The New Girls, in 1979. Her second novel, Still Missing, was translated into 14 languages (if you count the pirate edition in Cantonese) and made into a major Twentieth Century Fox film called Without a Trace, starring Judd Hirsch and Kate Nelligan, for which Gutcheon wrote the screenplay.

Gutcheon's most recent novel, Good-bye and Amen, is written in the form of an oral history, and even includes a fictional family photograph album. It shares a backdrop and some characters with her penultimate novel, Leeway Cottage, which was set in a fictional village on the Maine seacoast, as was her love story/hate story/ghost story, More Than You Know. She is also the author of the novels Domestic Pleasures, Saying Grace, and Five Fortunes; all of her novels are currently in print and available from HarperCollins or HarperPerrenial.

Gutcheon lives in New York City with her husband and dog. When not reading or writing, she spends her time working for PEN, the international writer's organization that promotes literacy and defends freedom of expression in the United States and around the world. For more information please visit http://www.bethgutcheon.com and follow the author on Facebook

OTHER BOOKS BY BETH GUTCHEON:

                               

                               

                               

                               

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW OF GOSSIP:

In Beth Gutcheon’s latest bestseller, GOSSIP, the narrator of the story is Lovie French who owns a sophisticated dress shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Her shop is THE place to go for many New York’s society women who need just the right outfit to wear. Lovie is there to accommodate their stylish wishes as well as share in their trials and help handle their tribulations.

Lovie’s two long time friends from school days, Dinah and Avis, are among her clients and confidants. Avis Metcalf, who through hard, honest work, has gained a fabulous reputation in the art world, seems the direct opposite of Dinah Wainwright. Dinah is a compellingly influential gossip columnist who among this trio is part of the long time secrets that will eventually come back to haunt them all. Despite their connection to Lovie, Dinah and Avis have never gotten along.

As things turn out, Dinah’s son, Nick who is also Lovie’s Godson, and Avis’ daughter, Grace, meet and it is kismet as they quickly fall in love and are married. However, when their once perfect relationship is pushed to its breaking point due to every day pressures and life changes, it is Lovie who is left to try and hold things together. This is easier said than done considering how the secrets of the past come back to haunt all their lives again.

Beth Gutcheon’s narrative runs from the 1960s to post-9/11 New York and back again. GOSSIP is easy enough to follow thanks to Lovie being the narrator and glue that holds it all together. Her strong, well written character is the part I liked the best and I think what made for a compelling story. What on the surface could be considered another light NY chick-lit book turns out to be more due to the characters that Gutcheon has created. For some reason I can’t explain, I cared about them and although I may not have liked some of them, I definitely wanted to find out what would become of them. Theirs is a world I am not accustomed to personally, but do enjoy reading about. I have to say the ending was not what I expected and that is something I like in a story.

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