Club Calvi

Emily Giffin's novels are usually among the most popular books of summer, and her new book will have readers talking. "Love You More" asks the question: if you could have a "do-over" when it comes to love, would you take it? The book is about a woman in New York City who seems to be living her perfect life, with a dream job and dream fiancé. But then she gets a phone call from her first love, and...

As the U.S. celebrates its 250th year of independence and its founding fathers, a new book celebrates a founding mother. Authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie talked with Mary about "A Founding Mother," their novel based on the life of Abigail Adams. She was the wife of one American president and the mother of another. As an important advisor to both men, Adams has a unique place in American his...

Author Kimberly McCreight is back with a thriller that takes readers inside the marriage of a wealthy couple caught in a deadly love triangle, and to an expedition on Mount Kilimanjaro that ends in tragedy. McCreight's previous book, "Like Mother, Like Daughter," was a Club Calvi Readers' Choice in 2024. She talked to Mary about her new novel "Someone Else's Husband." It is a "most anticipated boo...

Emma Straub turned her love for a boy band into her latest New York Times bestselling book "American Fantasy." It's about a 50-year-old woman who is recently divorced, empty-nested, and having problems at work, and who travels solo on a boy-band cruise. As Straub told Mary, the character discovers "transcendence." Straub wrote the book after she went on a similar cruise to bring her joy as she hea...

New York Times Bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews says her books are about women reclaiming their power, discovering who they are, and who they can become. Her latest novel, "Road Trip" takes readers on a journey with two sisters, both broke, who haven't spoken in years and who are now forced together after their mother's death. A painting in their mother's home might be worth millions, and they...

Fiona Davis brings the forgotten histories and dramatic stories of iconic New York City buildings to life in her historical fiction novels. Among her books, she's written about Radio City Music hall in "The Spectacular," the Frick mansion in "The Magnolia Palace," and the New York Public Library in "The Lions of Fifth Avenue." Her latest book "The Stolen Queen," a dual timeline set in the Metropol...

Eloisa James has been called a "Reigning Queen of Romance," and she certainly has had one of the most interesting day jobs in the industry. James is the author of dozens of historical romances, many of them hitting bestseller lists. She told Mary that she wrote her books on the weekends because on weekdays she was a professor teaching Shakespeare at Fordham University in New York City. James talke...

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...

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...

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...

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 se...

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 Ital...

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...

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...

To mark the paperback publication of "Didn't You Use to be Queenie B?" Club Calvi is sharing its meetup with author Terri-Lynne DeFino from June 2025 when she talked to Mary Calvi and answered readers' questions. "Didn't You Use to be Queenie B?" is a story of second chances and redemption. It's about a woman who was once a celebrity chef and reigned over the culinary world until she lost everythi...

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 wh...

Wade Rouse is known to readers for the 13 books he wrote under his pen name Viola Shipman, which honors the legacy of his grandmother. "That's What Friends Are For" is his first novel under his own name, and he told Mary it's his most personal novel yet. The book, based on the classic TV show "The Golden Girls," is about four gay men of a certain age who share Zsa Zsa Gabor's mansion in Palm Sprin...

Allison Pataki is known for historical fiction focused on women. Her latest novel, "It Girl," reimagines the life of perhaps the most famous woman at the turn of the 20th century. Evelyn Nesbit was discovered when she was barely a teenager. She became a celebrity, with women wanting to be her and men wanting to be with her. She soon found herself at the center of "The Crime of the Century" murder...

After 20 years of the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series, J.R. Ward is taking a detour from vampires falling in love and fighting evil in upstate New York with her first romantasy. "Crown of War and Shadow" became an instant New York Times bestseller. Ward told Mary that she came up with the idea for the book, as a backup for the Black Dagger Brotherhood, two decades ago. She dives into h...

Welcome to Club Calvi, a new series from the book club where you get to choose which book we read next. Each week, host Mary Calvi talks to authors who are established and those we think should be on your radar. The conversations explore writing inspirations, rituals, and routines, achievements and challenges to becoming published, and advice for aspiring authors. Book lovers also share their favo...