Book info

• Title The Rejected Writer's Book Club
• Author Suzanne Kelman
• Year 2014
• Genre Humour

Librarian Janet Johnson is puzzled when she is invited—and practically dragged—to her first meeting of the Rejected Writers’ Book Club. This quirky group of women would much rather celebrate one another’s rejected manuscripts over cups of tea and slices of lemon cake than actually publish a book. But good friends are exactly what Janet needs after moving to the small town of Southlea Bay, Washington. Just as the ladies are about to raise a teacup to their five hundredth rejection letter, they receive bad news that could destroy one member’s reputation—and disband the group forever. To save the club, Janet joins her fellow writers on a wild road trip to San Francisco in search of the local publisher who holds the key to a long-buried secret. As they race to the finish line, they’ll face their fears—landslides, haunted houses, handsome strangers, ungrateful children—and have the time of their lives.

Thoughts

This is such an odd little book but it was completely readable from start to finish. At first, I couldn’t really see where it was going - there was a lot of detail about our protagonist’s life, including her husband’s obsession with trapping a raccoon, but things gradually started to pick up pace. The underlying concept didn’t quite hang right for me, this odd little rejection club, but it didn’t really matter, the fun was having this adorably oddball collection of people forced to spend time together. A good read, and a happy finish. Apparently there’s more in the series, so I’ll be looking out for the next one.

Rating: 4 / 5