The Literary Wineaux Society OC

'Run For The Hills' by Kevin Wilson - Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly. Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half-siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all. As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm? Amazon Link.

Published: May 13, 2025
Page Count: 256 pages
Audiobook: 7 hours, 22 minutes. Narrator: Marin Ireland (she's also narrated 'Remarkably Bright Creatures', 'Anxious People', and 'The Lincoln Highway'

Further Reading and Viewing (more to come):
Official Website of Author Kevin Wilson

Location: Five Vines Wine Bar, San Juan Capistrano

PLEASE PLEASE check back regularly for updates. Set up notifications for meetup on your phone. Google and Apple Calendar do not update meetup change of times or dates.

I was inspired by July's book club theme of a new book that's being released in June about the friendship between fashion designers Kate Spade and Elyce Arons. This tiktok video (which you can stream via YouTube) was what prompted me to research Elyce Arons after she gave a home tour of her inspiring West Village, NYC apartment, bursting with personality.

I really wanted to have her book be a part of The Literary Wineaux Society's library of books and so I ran wild with the theme of BESTIES/BEST FRIENDS and chose six more books that stick to the theme. Most of the books are older titles, but a couple are new releases. I hope you find something you might like to read among them. I've uploaded the book covers in photos and added the Amazon links for further research.

Please cast your vote in the comments below. You have until June 22 to make your selection.

And the nominees for BESTIES/BEST FRIENDS are.....

1. We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade by Elyce Arons (non-fiction) - A memoir that details the friendship that began in college and went on to become co-founders of the multi-billion dollar fashion company as they came of age in 1990s New York. Arons first met Katy Brosnahan in a University of Kansas dorm room, she had no idea that this polo-shirt wearing Missouri girl would not only become her best friend, but also change the course of her life. Within a decade they'd be scraping by in NYC, working day jobs to spend nights building a new line of handbangs that would one day revolutionize the accessories industry. Amazon Link

2. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (fiction) - The New York Times published their best books of the century (the last 25 years) and this novel was #1. It's the first book of a series and is also a series on HBO. It tells the story of a lifelong friendship between Lila and Elena that begins in the 1950s on the outskirts of Naples, Italy. This first novel follows the friends from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between two women. Amazon Link.

3. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (fiction) - In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother's endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school she meets Homa, a kind her with a brave spirit. Together the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures, but as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences. Amazon Link.

4. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue (fiction) - A funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three. Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them. Amazon Link

5. The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding (fiction) - Lee Gulliver never thought she’d find herself living on the streets, but when her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to lay low and plan her next move—until early one morning, she sees a sobbing woman throw herself into the ocean. Lee hauls the woman back to the surface, but instead of appreciation, she is met with fury. The drowning woman, Hazel, tells her that she wanted to die, that she’s trapped in an abusive marriage. Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship. And then one day, Hazel makes a shocking request: she wants Lee to help her disappear. It’ll be easy, Hazel assures her, but Lee soon learns that nothing is as it seems, and that Hazel may not be the friend Lee thought she was. Amazon Link.

6. Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See (fiction) - This is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. See is brilliant at researching historical periods and people. According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. Amazon Link

7. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (fiction) - Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. These lost souls find in each other a purpose. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art. Amazon Link