Friends & Fiction

On this episode, Ron Block & Patti Callahan Henry welcome author Victoria Benton Frank to discuss THE VIOLET HOUR, her heartwarming and empowering new novel about thriving after tragedy. Victoria was born in New York City and raised in Montclair, New Jersey, but considers herself to have dual residency in the Lowcountry. A graduate of the College of Charleston and the French Culinary Institute, Victoria worked in restaurants in New York before returning to Charleston, South Carolina, which she now calls home. According to Ann Patchett, Victoria’s 2023 debut novel MY MAGNOLIA SUMMER cemented her as “the rightful heir to the crown of summertime storytellers.” Victoria joins us to discuss her second novel, out August 12th from Gallery Books, which our own Patti Callahan Henry praises as “enchanting, hilarious, and insightful.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome TWO debut novelists! We love the discovery of new voices on F&F, so this week we are thrilled to bring you two first-time authors—Laura Dickerman whose Hot Desk will hit stores on September 2nd, and Morgan Pager whose The Art of Vanishing came out on July 1st. With an MA in English from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School, Laura Dickerman has taught high school English at the Hopkins School, the Collegiate School, and Germantown Friends. She joins us from her home in Atlanta to discuss her rollicking, sparkling, and funny novel that spans decades and generations of a family in the publishing industry. A fresh take on the workplace rom-com, Hot Desk is described as Younger meets Writers & Lovers. Morgan Pager is a publishing professional and the content creator behind NYC Book Girl. A graduate of Duke University, Pager joins us from her home on the Upper West Side to discuss her “wildly inventive” (Jodi Picoult) debut The Art of Vanishing. This stunningly original love story between a museum employee and the man in a masterpiece hanging on the walls is a breathtaking debut about time, art, and the enduring power of love. We are excited to introduce you to both of these first-time novelists! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Mary Kay Andrews welcome #1 NYT-bestselling author Susan Wiggs to discuss her wrenching but life-affirming new novel, Wayward Girls, based on a true story of survival, friendship, and redemption set in the turbulent Vietnam era in Buffalo, New York. Susan Wiggs is the author of more than fifty novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and the recent New York Times bestsellers The Lost and Found Bookshop, The Oysterville Sewing Circle, and Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into two dozen languages. She joins us from her home in Washington State’s Puget Sound to discuss Wayward Girls, her haunting and thrilling new tale of six teens condemned to forced labor in the dark and secretive Good Shepherd Catholic reform school controlled by Sisters of Charity nuns. Called “a gut-wrenching story of survival, friendship, and justice,” by Robert Dugoni, and “a page-turner, replete with mystery and suspense,” by Adriana Trigiani, this novel is a bold leap in a new direction for Susan and we are so excited to talk to her all about it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, the full F&F family gathers to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, #1 bestselling novelist Lisa Scottoline to discuss our July 2025 Pick of the Month, her new gothic thriller with dashes of romance and excellent twists, The Unraveling of Julia, in which a young widow inherits a Tuscan estate from a mysterious benefactor and finds herself thrust into the crosshairs of a dangerous conspiracy. Lisa is a #1 bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author of 37 novels. She also wrote a series of humorous memoirs, co-authored with her daughter, novelist Francesca Serritella. Lisa is President of Mystery Writers of America and she reviews fiction for the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. A former trial lawyer, she graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania and cum laude from its law school, where she taught Justice & Fiction. There are 30 million copies of her books in print, and she is published in 35 countries. She joins us from her Pennsylvania farm with her array of disobedient pets to discuss her twisty, transportive, and haunting, new novel, The Unraveling of Julia. Called "pulse-pounding, propulsive, and utterly unputdownable,” by our own Kristy Woodson Harvey, this is suspense with a passport and we are excited to talk to Lisa all about it! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Ron Block welcome beloved NYT-bestselling author Adriana Trigiani to discuss The View from Lake Como, her new novel about one woman’s quest to build her own life before it’s too late. In addition to writing 21 books published in 38 languages around the world, Adriana is also an award-winning playwright, television writer/producer, and filmmaker. She wrote and directed the major motion picture of her debut novel, Big Stone Gap, adapted her novel, Very Valentine, for TV, and directed the documentary, Queens of the Big Time. For her significant contributions to literature, culture, and community, Adriana has been awarded Italy’s Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia, the Library of Virginia’s Patron of Letters degree, and Ellis Island’s Medal of Honor. Trigiani grew up in Appalachia where she co-founded The Origin Project, and she’s also a proud member of the New York State Council on the Arts. She joins us from her home in Greenwich Village to discuss The View from Lake Como, which has been named to most-anticipated lists by People, Elle, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly and which Booklist calls “an immersive, big-hearted ode to family, history, and the importance of independence.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Kristin Harmel & Patti Callahan Henry welcome NYT-bestselling author Meg Waite Clayton to discuss her new dual-timeline historical novel, Typewriter Beach, the unforgettable story of the unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock's new star. Meg is the NYT-bestselling author of eight previous novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz Pick and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and The Wednesday Sisters. Her books have been published in twenty-four languages, and have been finalists for the PEN Bellwether Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Langum Prize. She also writes for major newspapers and magazines, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. She joins us to discuss Typewriter Beach which has gotten starred reviews from Publishers Weekly (“intrigue to spare”) and Library Journal (“top-tier…thought-provoking and timely”). Set in Hollywood’s golden age in the shadow of the McCarthy era, it’s the story of two women separated by generations—and a tale of ideas and ideals, passion and persistence, creativity, politics, and family. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In honor of Independence Day we are re-airing a favorite episode of The Friends & Fiction Show from the vault. Join all four F&F hosts—Patti Callahan Henry, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel & Kristy Woodson Harvey—as they interview No.1 NYT-bestselling author Kristin Hannah about her smash success novel, THE WOMEN! Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, the instant No.1 NYT bestsellers The Great Alone and The Four Winds, and Firefly Lane, which was the No.1 Netflix series around the world the week it came out. Her novels have hit the NYT, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstores’ bestseller lists; won the People’s Choice award for best fiction; been named Book of the Year by Book Of the Month Club; been voted the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads; been chosen as book club picks by Reese Witherspoon and the TODAY Show; and been highlighted as best books of the year by outlets such as Amazon, iTunes, and Buzzfeed. THE WOMEN is an intimate and eye-opening portrayal of Army nurses during the Vietnam War, and is at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Ron Block welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Jess Walter to discuss his propulsive new novel So Far Gone, a hilarious, empathetic, and brilliantly provocative adventure through life in modern America, about a reclusive journalist forced back into the world to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren. Jess Walter is the author of eleven books published in 34 languages. His other novels include the #1 New York Times bestseller Beautiful Ruins and the NEA Big Read, The Cold Millions; The Zero, finalist for the National Book Award; and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award. His short fiction, collected in The Angel of Rome and We Live in Water, has won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and appeared three times in Best American Short Stories. He joins us from his hometown of Spokane, Washington to discuss So Far Gone, which has received wall-to-wall starred reviews and been named to best-of and most-anticipated lists by Vogue, Amazon, the Washington Post, the LA Times, the New York Times, and Oprah’s Book Club among others. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome New York Times bestselling author Julie Clark to discuss her dazzling new thriller, The Ghostwriter. Julie is the NYT-bestselling author of The Ones We Choose, The Last Flight, and The Lies I Tell. Her debut, The Ones We Choose, was published in 2018 and has been optioned for television by Lionsgate. The Last Flight was a #1 international bestseller and an Amazon Best Book of the Year that has been translated into more than twenty languages, earning a trifecta of starred trade reviews and picks from Indie Next and Library Reads. We are so excited to talk to Julie about The Ghostwriter (Sourcebooks, June 3), an instant NYT-bestseller and Book of the Month Club pick that Booklist called it “a riveting, five-star read” in a starred review. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, the full F&F family gathers to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, New York Times bestselling novelist and F&F'smvery own Kristin Harmel to discuss her electrifying new novel, our June 2025 Pick of the Month, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder. Kristin is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 internationally bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. Her books are published in more than thirty languages and are sold all over the world, and many of them have been optioned for film and television. Prior to her first book being published in 2006, Kristin had a long magazine writing career, primarily at PEOPLE magazine, and was a frequent contributor to the national television morning show The Daily Buzz. She joins us from her home in Orlando, Florida before embarking on a 2-week book tour to discuss this “dazzling diamond of a novel” (Hazel Gaynor) that Fiona Davis calls “joyous and ultimately triumphant.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.