My mom is way worse than I am. I called her the other day about something or nothing and she was like, “Perfect timing! Should I bring my yellow slicker or my navy raincoat?”

I decided to just go for it and be very decisive. “Navy!”

“Not the yellow?” she asked, like I hadn’t just given her an answer.*

(*An answer she clearly didn’t like.)

And this is why STARGAZER’s first chapter begins with a packing scene between a mother and daughter.

It’s also why in book #3, a contemporary Nantucket summer novel that I am writing now, the main character’s mother, Miri Lowenstein, has an entire Nantucket wardrobe of brightly colored, gauzy linen outfits that she only wears once a year on vacation, to contrast with her all-black-and-navy New York City uniform. In fact, I just wrote this sentence in the novel: Her mother was an entirely different person on Nantucket. I’m pretty sure it’s a keeper, because it’s both literal and metaphorical, see? And now I’m pretty sure I should have said “Yellow!” when my mom asked.

So, is there one right way to pack for a trip to Nantucket? No. There are, in fact, two correct ways to go about it. I call them the Seastreak and the Steamship, and here’s why.

This, my friends, is the Seastreak. According to its own website, the Seastreak is “the most civilized way to get there,” and, with a fast ferry offering dockside valet parking and a location only 40 minutes from my home, I’m gonna have to agree.*

(*But then again, flying private is probably pretty damned civilized too? Hmmmm.)

These babies are fast and new, but you know what they lack? Storage for a lot of luggage. In fact, just this year, they started charging people for more than one bag. I know! Who do they think they are? Southwest?

And this is why I pack light for the Seastreak. Think carry-on for an airplane situation, with one small suitcase and a tote bag. Or, in the case of “Julie Goes To The Nantucket Book Festival Via Seastreak,” a giant suitcase and a hanging garment bag of dresses and a giant tote bag. But that’s it, people. That’s me Seastreakmaxxing, which is only allowed before mid-June, when the island gets super busy and people get super mad at you for bringing your entire wardrobe onto a small boat…or for being an influencer snapping pics in their store. (IYKYK.)

And now I present to you the Steamship. If you’ve been here a while, then you know how much I adore this giant, vehicle-carrying ferry, which I wrote about in this 2023 post. This beauty is classic, old-school Nantucket right there.

Since there are a lot of options now for how to get to Nantucket, we really only take the Steamship when we bring our car to the island, or when the weather cancels the other ferries, haha, kidding not kidding.

For the past few years, due to a combination of bad luck and a terribly sensitive online vehicle registration system, we have not been able to get our car on the summer ferry, instead having to rent a car once we arrive on island. But this year, folks, I did it! The car is coming for the first time since 2023! And she’s so excited about it! And do you know what that means?

It means that I can pack HUGE. Think an entire carful of stuff: 4 bottles of sauv blanc? Easy. Giant yoga mat with blocks? No prob. Three pairs of nice shoes, including two pairs of platform sandals that each way a ton? But of course! Hanging bag of dresses, naturally! Crunchy peanut butter, creamy peanut butter, and two kinds of jelly for sandwiches made on Portuguese rolls from the Nantucket Bake Shop? Definitely. A vintage sweatshirt and a newer sweatshirt and a cashmere sweater? No brainer. Why? Because we’re bringing the car, people. We’re Steamshipmaxxing.*

(*Remember to leave room for the family.)

So, my dresses and I are off! See you in September! I hope you enjoy the rest of August to the max.

xo

Julie

Here’s what I’ve been reading, including THE CALAMITY CLUB, easily one of my favorite books of the year so far — and maybe a top five pick ever. And, just to be braggadocious, I got an ARC of Liane Moriarty’s BIG LITTLE TRUTHS and it is amazing! Grab yours on 8/25.

Two years of researching life aboard a clipper ship has turned me into a ship nerd. I know my t’gallants from my moonraker, and my jibs from my flying jibs. I know that a rope is an unused piece of cord that, once it gets put to work, is called a line. If you do not pronounce “forecastle” correctly, I will call you out on it.

But no amount of research could have prepared me for the uber-ship-geeks, a gazillion maritime enthusiasts converging on the port that became famous in 1773 for the Boston Tea Party and is near the Charlestown home of the U.S.S. Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat.

Brett and I spent the day out in the harbor on a cruise ship called The Spirit of Boston watching the parade of sail as each ship was welcomed into the “hahbah.” Here are some highlights in images:

In some photos, you can see sailors standing along the yards (or yardarms), the T-crossed arms that extend out from the masts of square-rigged ships. Note that in these images, none of the “square” sails, meaning the four-sided ones, are being used. Without wind, they are furled, or rolled up against the beams.

When the DJ played “Roll the Old Chariot Along,” the shanty that ends Part II of STARGAZER, I had to sing along. Brett brought his watercolors. Someone painted their toenails for the occasion (not it)! And I wore a star-spangled shirt for the festivities.

The next day, we boarded the B.A.P Union from Peru and visited the most gorgeous ship of all, the Amerigo Vespucci. Leave it to the Italians to be the most stylish in the world, even at sea!

It was an epic, historic, incredible weekend — and it was exhausting, a perfect example of a scenario where you go, “wow, that was amazing! Let’s never do it again!” The tall ships will be in port through Wednesday, July 15th, with fireworks again that night, so head on over to the Seaport and fight the throngs!

However, if you want to enjoy history without having to leave your beach chair, here are my top summer recommendations:

This is a captivating historical fiction novel set in 1965 and 1978 about a graduate student who returns with her sisters to their family’s summer estate on Martha’s Vineyard and begins to unravel old family secrets. Out today in paperback!

I adore Brooke’s novels, which are “recently historical” and feel nostalgic in the best possible way. Both timely and timeless, OUR LAST VINEYARD SUMMER is a compelling, thoughtful novel that explores complex family relationships and the changing roles of women over time. This is a book you will want to pass to your mother, daughter, sister, and best friend and say, Read this!

Kathryn Stockett, as you may remember, wrote a little thing called THE HELP back in the day. She creates strong female characters that have wit and voice and gumption and I can’t wait to see where this story, set in Oxford, Mississippi in 1933, will lead. I am actually listening to this one right now and loving it, as the southern voices of the two main point of view characters, Meg LeFleur and Birdie Calhoun, really come to life in the audiobook.

I am a huge fan of Beatriz’s novels, and this is another one set on Winthrop Island. A young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life, in this thrilling and moving novel that is at the top of my TBR pile!

I hope you have a happy historical summer!

xo

Julie

So the big news is that, last week, STARGAZER hit the USA Today bestseller’s list! I know!!!! Cue the fireworks!!!! (Oh, wait. Maybe those were for something else? Hmmm.)

Thank you to everyone who bought the novel, talked about it on social media or IRL, invited me to your bookstore, and/or told others about the book. Word of mouth is the single most powerful tool that I know of for a book’s success, and your mouths have been seriously wording it up for STARGAZER in the best possible way. I am forever grateful for your support. Keep up the good work!

It’s been a fun but exhausting month, and the top takeaway is this: readers are amazing. Everywhere I go, people come out to celebrate with me, the novel, and my outfit of the day. In Wakefield, RI, a woman told me that she loved STARGAZER even more than she loved DAUGHTERS — and she loved DAUGHTERS a lot! Her plan was to listen to the audiobook next. Another reader dm’ed me via Instagram to say that STARGAZER is one of the best books she’s ever read (!!!) and didn’t want it to end. And then a friend from my writing workshop texted that she stayed up late the night before to finish the novel. “Every time I thought I knew where the story was heading, it headed somewhere else entirely. So fun and warm and fast-paced and informative, too!! Truly incredible. What an accomplishment! I AM SO, SO PROUD OF YOU! I’m not crying, you’re crying!! Congratulations!!”

Have I died and gone to reader heaven? Yes. Yes, I think I have.

I cannot stress this enough: feedback like this is so meaningful. Real reactions from real people interacting with a story I created in my head in my pajamas in my freezing cold office? And reacting with such enthusiasm?! Mind blown.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Another highlight included speaking at The Nantucket Book Festival, where I was part of a Nantucket-specific fiction panel following a kick-off cocktail party. Pamela Kelley, Kyleigh Leddy, James Sulzer and I discussed our personal connections to the island, how we each developed our novels, and, critically, which Nantucket beach is our favorite. (Surfside for the sweeping Atlantic views and the truffle fries.)

After signing books at that wonderful event, I went to dinner at Bar Yoshi, one of my fave island spots, with my mom and Brett. As I headed to the bathroom during the meal, two women at the bar started whispering. That’s weird, I thought. When we walked past the bar again to leave, one of them turned on her stool. “Excuse me, are you Belle Burden?” she asked.

“No!” I said. Belle was coming from the Vineyard to be in conversation with Elin Hilderbrand. Suffice it to say, it was a whole thing. “But I read STRANGERS with my book club, so let’s discuss!” One of these women was divorced and the other had many opinions, and so we immediately got to work and dished for a good half hour.

And that’s why I was prepared for the next night.

“Authors in Bars” is an event at the Nantucket Book Fest that gives readers the chance to connect personally with their favorite authors at the bar at the Nantucket Hotel. I met Emma Straub for the first time when we both spoke at the festival three years ago, and this year, I chatted with Patrick Ryan (of BUCKEYE fame) and Marlon James (winner of the 2015 Booker Prize). Suffice it to say, it’s also a whole thing.

I’d been at the bar for a while when this young woman came up to me, eyes wide with fear and adrenaline. “Hi!” she said. “I am so nervous to meet you, but your book changed my life, and my friends said I just HAD to come tell you!” Right away I was suspicious. Flattered? Yes. Cautiously optimistic? Perhaps. But mostly doubtful. STARGAZER had only been out for a day, so it seemed unlikely that it had had time to change anyone’s life. And DAUGHTERS was good…but had anyone in the past three years ever said it was life-changing good?

The very young woman (clue #1) had that slightly possessed look that one gets when meeting a famous person up close (clue #2). “I’m here for my bachelorette party,” she said (clue #3). “I read your book in one sitting on the beach (clue #4), and it really made me rethink my entire relationship with my future husband and our financial situation!" (final clue!)

“Maybe she was curious about the financials of being married to a sea captain!?” My friend Jane texted the next day, when I relayed the humorous story to my writing friend group chat.

Yeah, nope. The young woman was definitely embarrassed and disappointed when I revealed that I was none other than myself. After her face fell, she recovered quickly and pivoted immediately into asking what my book was about before I released her back to her friends to go whisper about me.

The next night, I got to chat with one of my own idols, Jenna Bush Hager, who is as nice and funny in person as she is on The Today Show. Our convo game started out strong — I showed her and Siri Daly my Nantucket basket! — but then I got overwhelmed, perhaps the way others feel when actually meeting Belle Burden, and did not tell her all the fun things I wanted to. My admiration for her Thousand Voices authors! Our shared love of book pushing! Our shared love of Veronica Beard!

JBH may have even hinted at inviting me to walk with her from the church to the hotel party, and I may have instead demured and gotten into the van to ride with my mom. Have I learned nothing from my 1970’s suburban childhood? NEVER GET INTO THE VAN!

I also met Ann Patchett, not pictured, and many many other authors not pictured. It was great, but it was also hard for me to balance my own launch week needs (sleep and food and Instagram posting) with the demands of the festival (sitting on hard-backed church pews in the thousand degree heat to hear Adrianna Trigiani bring the house down, smiling and socializing every night in a different outfit).

Looking at these pictures now, I realize there is something interesting about those who choose to wear their name tags and those who don’t. Are Patrick Ryan, Belle, and I adamant rule-followers? And why didn’t anyone tell me that the name tag messes with the dress?

Speaking of dresses! Here are a few of my book tour looks in order: The Map Dress, Siren Song, Stargazer Summer, and The Clipper. While leaning into the nautical aspects of STARGAZER, I’ve definitely been having fun with fashion and am embracing bolder prints and color too.

Another highlight was seeing so many New York friends at two events there, an interview in Scarsdale with author friend Brooke Lea Foster and a wonderful cocktail party that my dad hosted in his apartment building.

After a nice break for my birthday and the Fourth of July, I’ll be heading back out on book tour TOMORROW, where I’ll be participating in the Summer Fiction Panel at Buttonwood Books and Toys in conversation with Natalie Lemle and Laura Zigman. The following week, I’ll be back on ACK, signing books at Mitchell’s and then in Providence, Sandwich, Duxbury, Warren, Newport and Tiverton! And I’m getting ON A BOAT! Check out my full schedule below, with all details on my website.

If I haven’t seen you yet, I hope we get to meet up soon!

And next weekend, I’ll be visiting the tall ships in Boston, so follow along on Instagram! Happy summer!

xo

Julie

Here are some outtakes with two of my favorite people!

And what I’ve been reading — there seems to be a popular font in the book world….

A lot is about to happen. I’m almost ready for it, but not quite. Some moments, I feel complete jubilation about the STARGAZER’s book launch, and at other times, I brace myself against a coming storm. So, while I was in the calms, I just wanted that moment to stretch out and last. I took a few deep breaths and ate a nice hunk of brie slathered on a torn chunk of fresh baguette and turned my face to the sun and let it all sink in.

I have been practicing yoga at Providence Power Yoga in the East Bay of Rhode Island for almost a decade now. A few weeks ago, an instructor said something at the beginning of class that I remembered throughout the entire hour-long session (an unbelievable feat in and of itself) and jotted down immediately afterwards on my phone. I have been repeating it like a mantra ever since: One breath. One moment.

We cannot control a lot of what happens in life. I wrote a book, and I believe it’s a good one. It will probably be the biggest story I ever tell, because of its global reach and sweeping drama. But, as of Tuesday, STARGAZER is no longer mine. Now it belongs to you, and I hope you like it a lot, and that you tell your friends about it, and that you read it with your book clubs and invite me to your fancy luncheons so I can wear all of my fun dresses (a girl can dream!). I hope this story makes you hug your annoying kid when they act stubborn and strong-willed and I hope it makes you view Nantucket, my favorite place in the world, through a new (old) lens. I hope it both entertains you and makes you curious about the time period and places I’m writing about.

One breath. One moment.

But every good yin needs a complementary yang, so I am using another tactic to keep me moored: exceptionally cheesy reality television. Now that I’ve watched all of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, I’ve moved on to another island. Love Island.

More precisely, Love Island USA 2026.

How else to stay tethered to the here-and-now than by watching bikini-clad women make out with beefed up, tattooed men who they just met? And this show is on EVERY NIGHT. Meaning, when I come back from a book talk at 9 or 10 pm and my brain is too buzzy for sleep, I can make microwave popcorn and put on my pjs and snuggle on the couch with Sammi the old puppy, and Z, my almost 21-year old kid who got us hooked on this dumb show, and escape reality EVERY NIGHT. I don’t have to wait a week for the next episode to drop. It’s like having a non-stop intravenous hook up to the best-worst human-made content on the planet.

How to explain this show to a newbie? It’s like The Dating Game from the 70’s on steroids, or like The Bachelor’s antihero bad boy brother, with cursing and tongue. (Too much tongue, actually. This is why actors tend to not French kiss in their make out scenes — it isn’t pretty.) There is crying through false eyelashes and a lot of bro hugs and deep chats while lifting weights. The set is a neon-sign-filled Barbie dream house in which contestants are paired off into couples who sleep in beds together starting on day one. I know!

There are 37 episodes of this nonsense, and I can’t wait. Just as I can’t wait for you to meet the Starbucks and the entire cast and crew of THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET.

Although the book officially comes out on Tuesday, I have my first event today, celebrating 250 years of history and hospitality at the Griswold Inn in Essex, CT. STARGAZER is set during America’s 75th, making this a fun and meaningful collaboration.

I’ll see you on the other side of my launch, readers. Wishing you fair winds and following seas. And sending lots of love. Thanks for joining me on the journey.

xo

Julie

Confession: I’m not a huge audiobook fan. I will listen to a memoir or a podcast as I take a walk or go on a long drive, but I prefer to hold fiction in my hands, curled up on the couch. And, when it comes to my own work, that instinct to not listen grows even stronger, because these are my words that I’ve carried around for years in my head. It’s personal. There’s something odd about hearing a voice actor speak my prose back to me, which is why (second confession) I didn’t even listen past the first page of DAUGHTERS. I guess it’s like actors who can’t watch their own films?!

But, a few things are different with STARGAZER. For one, in the three years since DAUGHTERS came out, audiobooks have grown exponentially in popularity. A lot of readers prefer audiobooks, while another segment of the reading population will read one book while listening to another, so that they always have two books going at any given time. Others will toggle back and forth with one novel, experiencing the story simultaneously two ways. Readers recommend not only books these days, but audiobooks, as in “I loved that listen!” A strong audiobook can help an author find — and expand — her readership.

Secondly, STARGAZER is told in omniscient narration, meaning that I am working with a big cast of characters, and the actor needs to distinguish between a lot of different voices, making this novel particularly challenging to narrate well.

Thirdly, although I got to select Erin Lin from a list of six actors, I never heard her narrate a sample of my own work before she recorded it. Instead, I was given short clips of her and others reading other books and had to imagine how they would sound narrating everyone from my main character, 18-year-old Nantucketer Winnie Starbuck, to Zander Washington, the helmsman of Stargazer, an escaped slave living on the run at sea. My husband, Brett, who casts actors in commercials and voiceovers, helped me decide on Erin, pointing out that her voice had energy. (Another thing that resonated with me? On Erin’s website, she says that, as a child, she read aloud to her little sister and acted out all the parts. Awwww! ;))

Once Erin was cast, she reached out via Instagram to tell me how excited she was to narrate STARGAZER. In particular, she said that she hoped I liked the voice she created for Chin. This wasn’t something I had even considered as I wrote the book, and now I was like…what does Chin sound like?

So I had a mission: I had to listen up to the part where the Chinese cabin boy, Chin, first speaks aloud, at the end of chapter two.

Spoiler alert: I was hooked from page one, and I adore the distinct and cute voice Erin created for Chin in chapter two, and I cried at the end of the novel. My own novel! In which I know the ending. I listened to the prologue and was like….oooo, this is a great story! I was so entertained. I couldn’t wait to hear what happens next, even though I know what happens next! Erin adds drama to the drama. Not only has this been an extremely fun way to re-read the novel before book tour, but it has provided me with a nuanced and expanded sense of the power of storytelling.

Publishing can be lonely. But Erin knows the story almost as well as my editor and I do, which makes me feel like we are in this together.

Fun fact: Erin had trouble pronouncing one particularly important word in the book pertaining to the Starbuck diamond, a piece of jewelry I invented for Nell. Press play below to hear this sort of hilarious audio as Erin messes up the word “brooch” over and over again in the recording studio. (She’s a good sport to share this file with us!)

I asked Erin to be a part of this newsletter, so here are a few other fun facts told in her voice:

• My first job ever was as a telemarketer. That was also one of the first times I was told I had a ‘nice voice,’ although it was kind of creepy since it happened during a cold call.

• Ironically, I’m a little bit scared of being out on the water. First time I ever set foot on a ship was with Carnival Cruises. I didn’t realize I was deathly afraid of the ocean until we left the port. They had to stop orientation just for me because I started crying from panic (I think I was 14? lol). I’m better now and have been on a yacht and catamaran since, but that was not a fun way to figure that phobia out.

• I spent 10 years in sales and built my acting portfolio from the ground up. I'm full time VO now though! I’m fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese. I can also get by narrating short phrases in Japanese, Korean, French and Italian.

• Julie packs a ton of diversity into this book and I had an absolute blast performing all the characters. When I was a newbie narrator, I auditioned for a book that asked for a British accent. The author (who was a London native) picked me (YAY) and then asked me where in England I was from. I told him I was actually American. He ended up rescinding his offer cause he wanted a genuine Brit...so I guess it was a compliment and an insult at the same time??

• There's a ton of sailing terminology [in STARAGZER] and the word studding sails really messed with my head since it's pronounced STUN-suhl.

• I don’t drink coffee, more of a tea gal.

And, since my main characters, the Starbucks, made their fortune selling tea, a tea gal was exactly what this clipper ship needed!

So, read the book AND listen up, because we are talking nauti starting June 9th! Remember to check out my website for all book tour events!

xo

Julie (& Erin)

So, without further ado, which is Shakespearean for right now, here it is:

I’m so excited! I’ll be in conversation with so many wonderful writers and can’t wait to see all of you readers in person! You can get tickets and find all other info on my website!

A few special events to note include the pre-launch talk at The Griswold Inn on Sunday, June 7th, where you’ll get your book two days early and we’ll chat about life aboard a clipper ship in 1851, aka America’s 75th anniversary, as we gear up for its 250th! And on June 9th, I’m celebrating launch day at An Unlikely Story, the awesome bookstore with an event space and wine bar created by local author hero Jeff Kinney of the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID empire.

I am thrilled to be included again in the Nantucket Book Festival, and I’m also super psyched to speak at my home bookstore of Barrington Books on Monday, June 15th!

Some things to note: more events will be added for July and August, so I will keep you posted. The best way to keep up to date is to follow me on Instagram. (In fact, another event has already been added for July 16th at Mitchell’s Book Corner on Nantucket.)

Speaking of Nantucket, if you’d like a personalized, signed copy of STARGAZER, please pre-order one now from Mitchell’s Book Corner. I will be ferrying over to the island to sign copies on June 1. This makes a great gift for the Nantucket-lover in your life and comes with a limited-edition bookmark and two fun stickers, as shown below.

I cannot stress enough the importance of pre-orders to help an author (me, in this case) do well out of the gate, so please support this initial push by purchasing your copy or copies today from your fave bookstore!

Lastly, I would like to share some great press! Boston.com named STARGAZER as one of the 10 best beach reads for a summer day in New England.

Yay! I was excited to see author friend Meg Mitchell Moore’s novel, DOWN WITH THE SHIPMANS, listed too. We will be speaking together at Inkfish Books in Warren, RI on July 30th along with Deb Curtis, whose debut novel is set in RI and was published by Jenna Bush Hager’s imprint, Thousand Voices.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! Let’s kick-off summer right — right now, without further ado!

xo

Julie

What I’ve been reading:

As a New Yorker who married a guy from Rhode Island — and then moved with him to the Ocean State 12 years ago — I just want to say, bravo, Bravo. You had me at Cranston.

Prior to the Real Housewives of Rhode Island airing on your network, I’m sure many people were aware of our lovely coastal city of Newport, or of our lovely coastal town of Narragansett. Because of Taylor Swift, they’ve probably also Googled Watch Hill. But to put caché-questionable locales like West Warwick and Cranston, my husband Brett’s hometown, on the map the way you have via drone shots of waterfront mansions that I never knew existed and a beach that nobody in our state likes? Riveting television. Even Brett cannot look away.

So, while Rhode Island is having its moment, I thought I would share some REAL goss about the smallest state in the nation. Here’s stuff you might never learn from the show, because the women casted as real representations of us are too busy fighting at Newport Vineyards and Fleur at the Omni Hotel and Blu on the Water to teach you any truly vital cultural nuggets about the state that I love and that I now call home.

• The official appetizer of Rhode Island is calamari. You’re welcome.

• In Rhode Island, there are actually THREE types of clam chowder, “white,” “red” and “clear.” The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills would recognize one as New England style and the other as Manhattan style. But clear? What the heck is that? The New York Times explains: “Rhode Island clear chowder is a traditional, dairy-free, and tomato-free New England soup featuring a clear, broth-based soup filled with quahog clams, potatoes, onions, and salt pork or bacon. It is known as a lighter, briny, and "original" style chowder that emphasizes the pure flavor of clams.” So there! When you order dinner at Aunt Carrie’s, the server is going to ask which one you want, so you bettah have youah answah ready!

• Speaking of clams. Brace yourself for this one, folks. Foodies that we are, Rhode Islanders have a delicacy all our own. Someone at some point made a mistake near a kitchen fryer and invented a special donut made of clams. It’s called a clam cake, and it’s both very frightening and quite delicious. Imagine a zeppole having a baby with a bunch of clams? Or like a savory donut filled with clams? Or like, a perfectly crunchy, greasy ball to dunk into your (pick a color) chowder? Who needs oyster crackers when you can have a clam cake or three?

• Okay, enough with the seafood. It’s time to talk about pizza. Party pizza, that is. You buy it at a bakery where it sits on a shelf next to the donuts (!!!) and, since it doesn’t have cheese on it, you can grab a room-temp slice wrapped in bakery paper and take it TO THE BEACH with you! This is an actual thing that people in my state do! My own father-in-law does this. Now repeat after me, because this delicacy is pronounced the way a kid refers to a toilet: potty pizza. Lucky for us, Rhode Island Monthly has ranked the best slices — excuse me, I mean “strips.”

  

I’m wondering now if Roger Williams or some other original settler had a problem digesting dairy, and that’s why our chowder has no cream and our pizza has no cheese? Hmmm. Food for thought.

• A summer delicacy that’s a must-try is Del’s frozen lemonade, which you can buy at stores and stands all around the state — and especially on our beaches! It’s scooped into cups and you shake the stuff around and drink it without a straw. My mother asked for a straw once and now we can’t go back to that beach.

• Finally, the next time you come to Rhode Island, you’re going to want to order “three all the way with a coffee milk,” especially if you want to have heartburn for the remainder of your time here. Let’s break it down: three refers to your number of “wieners," or what everyone else on the planet calls hot dogs, because they’re not depraved. “All the way” means you want them with mustard, meat sauce, chopped onions, and celery salt. And the coffee milk is like chocolate milk, only it’s made with coffee-flavored syrup. Go to a diner called Olneyville for the originals.

You heard it here!

I’d just like to add that Rhode Island lives up to it’s Bravo Housewives reputation as being so small that everybody knows everybody. Take for instance that cheating podiatrist on the show. He’s in practice with our very own podiatrist at Rhode Island Foot Care. Is that exciting or what?! Come visit me in Rhode Island anytime — for the best clam cakes in town and very good arch support.

Next time on the Real Housewives of Rhode Island: Julie’s official book tour announcement for The Stargazer of Nantucket! Stay tuned!

xo

Julie

What I’ve been reading:

I have been talking about this book for years. Literal years, plural. While on tour with DAUGHTERS from 2023 - 2024, the last question I was invariably asked at any event was what are you working on next? The answer was my elevator pitch for STARGAZER: a novel in which a daughter stows away aboard her parents’ clipper ship in 1851 as it sets sail from Nantucket, journeys around treacherous Cape Horn, visits San Francisco during the gold rush, and then travels on to China where calamity ensues. I repeated this so many times that my husband, Brett, gave the manuscript the unofficial working title CALAMITY ENSUES.

Well, folks, as a reminder, THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET (aka CALAMITY ENSUES) hits bookstores on June 9th! And you know what that means? The existential dread building in my gut is seriously ramping up. No, no. That’s not what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that my excitement is building day by day, minute by minute. Seriously! So, although it’s still a little early, cue the summer-party-good-feels-great-mood-vibes. (And by that I mean sing a shanty!)

Next month, I will post my official book tour list with all event dates. But, for now, I’d like to highlight a few key moments of the early part of the tour so that you can plan ahead. Also, every event is listed on my newly designed website, including links with info and tickets, so that is the best way to stay in the loop.

SUNDAY, JUNE 7th: Join me in Essex, CT, a seafaring town rich in history, to celebrate the Griswold Inn’s 250th anniversary. I’ll be talking over afternoon tea in this amazing tap room with a giant fireplace and dark wood-paneled walls covered in nautical paintings that is a step back in time. It will feel like a STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET fever dream! You will love it!

Note that this is a special pre-launch event and you will get the book two days before everyone else! I am not sure yet if you have to register, but I promise to find out!

Also note that I look a little bit wild-eyed in this photo but I wanted to share it anyway because this is me at The Gris in 2023, wearing one of my fave blazers, “O Captain! My Captain!” which I’ll be bringing back for chilly days on this tour. (Yes, I named the different Looks, and yes, this blazer has sparkly fabric!)

On Monday, June 8th, I will be having a private party for local friends and family in Rhode Island — during which my husband will interview me while dressed as a sailing captain, I think? Stay tuned! On pub day, June 9th, I will be celebrating my launch at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA in conversation with my writing teacher, mentor and friend Jenna Blum at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available here!

Then I’m off to the Nantucket Book Festival from June 10-14th.

During week two, you can find me at Barrington Books on June 15th, The Contemporary Theater Company with Wakefield Books on June 16th, at Wellesley Books on June 17th in conversation with Whitney Scharer, and Book Love in Plymouth, MA on June 18th in conversation with Annie Hartnett. New York friends, I hope you can join me at the Scarsdale Public Library on June 22 with Brooke Lea Foster. But, like I said, there’s much more info still to come.

Let’s talk outfits, shall we?

Since this is a nautical novel and since my main characters, the Starbucks, use blue and gold as their signature colors, you will find me in a lot of “nauti” looks in blue and white with gold accents.

Are you seasick yet?

This is the back of the anchor sweater! In which a lobster is wearing an anchor sweater! So meta! A meta lobstah swetah!

And this is a dress that I wore in Hawaii but that I purchased originally for book tour because…blue and white and waves and fish!

I also got two dresses that are very colorful and whimsical, but I am going to surprise you with them on tour, so you can be like, “Julie! You’re not in navy!” And I can be like, “Right?! Thanks for noticing!” and then we can hug and stuff.

Lastly, I’d just like to remind you all to pre-order a copy of STARGAZER today from your favorite bookseller. Nantucket Book Partners is doing a special promo that includes this limited-edition bookmark and these cute stickers! I will be visiting the island before my launch to sign and personalize books, so if you want to send someone a special gift from Nantucket, click here to preorder an autographed copy with swag.

Semper porro!

xo

Julie

(You’ll know what that means in eight weeks!)

PS: The gold sandals pictured above are 50% off right now at J Crew Factory — and they are super comfy! You’re welcome!

And here are some of the great things I’ve been reading!

In terms of the actual weather, the threat of blizzard-like conditions with heavy snow and gale-force winds has me on edge. There’s so much uncertainty. I might lose power. I might have to eat all the brownies I made. I might eventually have to eat my own hand, who knows. Point is: anything’s possible.

In terms of my book forecast, reviewers might love it. Or not. Readers might make brownies for their book clubs. Someone might want to shake my hand — or pan me on Amazon because the book arrived damaged. Point is: anything’s possible. And it’s making me nuts.

Just ask my mom. The other day, I called her to ask her opinion about my book tour schedule. Should I go to this bookstore in June or July — or this one? In June or July? Or August? And which day of the week seemed better? Tuesday? Is Tuesday good? I just kept circling back and around and through and could not make a single decision.

“You sound like your aunt!” My mom declared. This is not a compliment.

“Actually, you sound like your aunt on acid!" My mom added. “Just stop!”

All this time, I thought I had escaped the dreaded curse of the sophomore novel. But it was just patiently biding its time, waiting to pounce. And now it’s here, roaring in my ears.

According to Google, the "curse of the sophomore novel" (or "second book syndrome") is the phenomenon where an author's second book fails to live up to the critical or commercial success of their debut. It stems from immense pressure, high expectations, imposter syndrome, and the need to follow up an often years-in-the-making, first success with a fast turnaround.

“Oh, it’s real,” blockbuster bestselling superstar novelist Lisa Genova said when I told her about this terrible existential dread I now carry in my gut, like my insides are melting. Did her insides ever feel like they were melting? I didn’t ask because Boundaries. But her eyes grew wide and she nodded along and so I knew she got it. I mean, she’s Lisa Genova! It’s got to be hard to write something after Still Alice. But me? Just your average author knitting a tale?

Instead of being plagued by doubt, I felt confident while writing Stargazer. I did not have a cantankerous voice in my head telling me that my writing was terrible, or that I should just quit while I was ahead. I had a blast, in all honesty. And meanwhile, Daughters was still selling, performing much better than anyone thought it would, including me. It was a nice surprise. And who doesn’t like surprises?

Surprise: I had three anxiety dreams last night. Not only that, but one of them was recurring from the night before. The dreams were so vivid that I decided to ask Google what they meant.

Me: Hey Google, so what does it mean if I dream about fire two nights in a row?

Google: That’s really f-ed up, Julie.

I’m kidding. Google only thought that. Here’s what it said: It means that your subconscious is trying to get your attention regarding intense emotions, significant life changes, or high stress levels that need to be addressed. Because the dream is recurring, it suggests an urgent need to process a situation in your waking life that feels out of control.

Me: Gotcha, yeah. Makes total sense. And how about this one? A dream in which you are told you have a ticket for a seat to a symphony is in the front of the theater, but when you try to get the ticket, you are told you are a lying fraud and are taken to a small hot prison where you fight back.

Google: Imposter syndrome, duh!

Me: Ah, yes. Of course. I worry that I don’t belong in the front row. It’s a question of self-worth. And what about the prison part? It was kind of like a sauna. I knew I wouldn’t be able to breath in there, so I kicked the guard off me.

Google: Fighting back is a positive, empowering sign in a dream. It shows resistance to being controlled.

Me: Nice! A small victory. But wait, I have one more dream to share. I am walking through a field filled with animal poop and I cannot seem to avoid stepping in it.

Google: There are contradictory beliefs here. Carl Jung believed that poop reflects the shadow self. Others think this means you’ll be getting an unexpected windfall.

Me: Let’s go with version two. Thanks!

I want to end this rant by saying that intellectually I know this is anxiety will pass and that everything will work out just fine. And while I care deeply about my career, I know the difference between Dumb Stuff and Real Stuff. I have several friends going through Real Stuff right now. And my mom is recovering from major spine surgery, which is definitely Real. I too am dealing with some Real Stuff. Everything else is sort of Dumb in comparison, even if it feels very Real at the time.

Thanks for listening. Stay safe in the storm — and pleasant dreams!

xo

Julie

Let’s talk about books! Here’s what I’ve read and loved so far this month: a fantasy novel from historical heroine Kate Quinn, a memoir that everyone’s talking about, and a grown-up romance that comes out in April from one of my fave writers!

The house lights came up and Sarah turned to me. “Well, that was fun!” she said. I pretended to be busy gathering my things for a moment but eventually had to look at her. I knew I had been found out, clearly still glassy-eyed and sort of destroyed, wrung out with emotion. “I don’t know why I do this,” I confessed as I blew my nose into a tissue.

Sarah tilted her head a bit and smiled in understanding. “I think it’s the earnestness of the performances,” she said. “Something about the actors’ honesty and bravery.”

I nodded.

“Kids, are you ready to go?” Sarah asked our children, who were seated around us.

“Yes! Yes,” they said, and we exited the aisle.

The show we had just seen was a random local theater group’s performance of High School Musical 2.

The actors were middle schoolers that we didn’t know, in a town that we didn’t hang out in. It had just been Something To Do With The Kids on a Saturday, but it didn’t matter. I had lost it anyway.

In other words: I have a problem.

Often, I cry at totally appropriate moments, like when the cast lines up at the front of the stage and simple piano notes play as the performers sing about five-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-six-hundred minutes. That one is sanctioned by the Broadway Gods, like, yes, this is a moving song, so have at it and weep.

But still, I overdo it at Rent. Like, sure, I cry for the beauty of the sentiment, of time fleeting. But also I cry for Jonathan Larson, who didn’t get to see the success of his musical, while here I am, a schlub sobbing in the seventh row, and it isn’t fair, it just isn’t, that I get to see this creative exuberance that is so life-affirming and he doesn’t, and, while I’m at it, I cry for a favorite English teacher, Lois Van Epps, who died aboard takeoff on TWA flight 800 headed to Paris in 1996, a few weeks before I saw Rent on Broadway with the original cast. I still felt so raw and so shocked about Lois, who was one of the reasons that I became an English teacher sitting in that theater at the age of 26, and so I let the waterworks out.

Earlier this month, my 20-year-old, Z, and I went to see Operation Mincemeat on Broadway. It was incredible, and we were lucky enough to see the original cast (who will be playing their final performance on February 22, so try to see it before then if you haven’t yet!). When Jak Malone began his Tony-award-winning performance of “Dear Bill,” the tears started to trickle. That was fine. I was fine. Z looked over and smiled at me sadly, much as Sarah had done all of those years ago. But, as the song continued, I just couldn’t stop. I sobbed. Like, it was bad, people.

“Oh, so you’re not just crying about the show. I see,” Z said, as they rubbed my shoulder sympathetically but also like, okay, my mom is a little bit of an unhinged freak right now. This moment will pass. Z is a psychology major who gets it.

You see, I’m sad about a lot of things and worried about many others. And Broadway is how I cope.

In a theater, we are alone together in the darkness, simultaneously experiencing an artistic creation that is intended to move us. And I think it’s something about that sense of community that really overwhelms me. I let my guard down in front of live theater in a way I do not do when watching film or TV because the show is being done right then and there and for me, for us. We are breathing the same air and hearing the same person unwrap a hard candy. When someone’s cell phone goes off at a dramatic moment, we all get pissed off at them as one. And when someone holds a perfect note, we applaud together and literally stand up for them.

Last week, I went to see Suffs at the Providence Performing Arts Center because I had missed it on Broadway. The show is about the long and complex battle for American women’s suffrage and feels particularly timely and particularly me-ish. I went by myself, because I couldn’t find anyone to go with and I didn’t actually try all that hard to do so.

And did I cry, dear reader?

You betcha. Was the actor playing Inez Milholand riding a horse with fist raised while wearing a golden crown at the moment I snapped this photo? I’ll never know. Talk about putting the “rage” in suffrage! My anger gave me a whole new reason to sob. (And then find a new seat for Act II.)

The world is in turmoil right now. So protest, write to your state’s leadership, donate, call, start a singing resistance like this one, and be outraged. And then support the arts and go see a musical. Let the beauty and creativity of humanity overwhelm you in the very best way possible. I dare you not to cry.

xo

Julie

Oh — and here’s what I’ve been reading!

And Deep Cuts, which is being made into a film by A24! All of these were great.

Now, to my holiday tale.

It’s been a dark time. I don’t have to tell you that; obviously you know. You feel it too. A person might hide under a cozy blanket, drinking wine, crunching on pieces of peppermint bark and watching a lot of Dawson’s Creek to just get through it.

December of 2020 was also a very dark time. There were no vaccines yet. My son was attending college on the West Coast virtually from his bedroom in Rhode Island. Millions of people had died from COVID. Day after day, the sky grew darker earlier and earlier. I craved light. And all I wanted for Hanukkah was a Christmas tree.

But I couldn’t have a Christmas tree, because I didn’t celebrate Christmas. Story of my holiday life, right there. Jewish people get to experience a lot of mitzvahs, including the bar and bat mitzvah kind, but we don’t have evergreen trees in our living rooms. We get to stuff our faces with jelly donuts, but we don’t hang stockings on our fireplaces. And yet. If 2020 taught me anything, it was how to say f*ck it to stuff like that, stuff that used to feel important but really isn’t.

The point is, I wanted a tree, by golly, and so I was going to get one. My younger child and I put on our masks and went to Target.

My goal was to identify a tree that felt Jew-ish. A tree that didn’t blend in but rather proudly stood out from the rest. Since 99% of the trees were green, therefore, I went with a white one. And since there was already a lot of holiday work to be done frying latkes, I didn’t want a tree that was difficult to deal with. I was adding a new tradition and it had to feel easy. Hence a plastic tree that could be used year after year. And I wanted a small one, something under 5 feet tall that most closely resembled my Ashkenazi relatives in look and feel. And, since Hanukkah is also known as the festival of lights, the thing needed to be bright. And that’s how I became the owner of a petit, pre-lit, plug-in, white Hanukkah bush.

Yes. That is a Star of David on top and Hanukkah presents underneath, with Brett’s childhood train set doing laps around it.

I love my little tree. I also love my menorah and my latkes and all of my more traditional Jewish traditions. And I also also love to sing Christmas carols. This should surprise no one.

There’s a lot we have to do in 2026. Let’s change gun laws. Let’s promote religious tolerance and understanding. Let’s make the world safer for our children and grandchildren.

But first, let’s fill our hearts and our bellies and spread as much light as we can.

xo

Julie

What have I been reading? I’m so glad you asked! I’m ending 2025 very strong!

Yes, that PEOPLE MAGAZINE!!!

Oh wait, I can’t do this without exclamation marks!!!! Many, many of them!!!!

Cue the chorus of Styx’s classic “Come Sail Away” in your mind and click here to read the entire article!

So this is why I haven’t been able to share the cover with you in past posts, because my publicist and I have been working behind the scenes to try and get this magical thing to happen. And it did! I hope you will forgive me, perhaps by pre-ordering the novel today wherever books are sold!? (See the end of this newsletter for some specific links and info about how and why to do that, please and thank you!)

But first, here is a close up of the gorgeous cover:

Let’s discuss her, shall we?

• Enchanting strips of a watercolor sea, with the title woven in and out of the waves, bobbing on the water

• A dramatically silhouetted clipper ship set against a giant glowing orb

• And the layered backdrop above — look closely and you can see the compass rose of a nautical map and patterns of constellations in the sky

• The deep blues and golds, which match pretty much everything in my wardrobe, but are also, more importantly, the “Starbuck colors” for my family of Nantucket sea merchants

It’s the journey of a lifetime, and a voyage that will change everything!

How and where to pre-order:

STARGAZER comes out on June 9th, 2026. So why order today? Pre-orders show HarperCollins that there is enthusiasm in the marketplace around my novel, which, in turn cues them to support my novel even more. It’s like clapping for Tinkerbell, only with books. When I asked you to pre-order DAUGHTERS, you did such a stellar job that I became a bestseller on the Barnes & Noble website for one day, and the next thing you know, I was in their March newsletter and on their front tables. This stuff really works. So let’s do it again!

THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET is available as a paperback original wherever books are sold. It’s so hard for me to choose just one bookstore to support, so I’m going to suggest three:

If you live anywhere in the world, click here to purchase from Barnes & Noble

If you live locally and want to pick up in store, click here to purchase from Barrington Books

And for those die-hard Nantucket fans, click here to purchase from Mitchell’s Book Corner

(Please note that the paperback is being sold for $19.99! Don’t accidentally order the large print paperback, which is more expensive and 600 pages long — unless you need the large print, that is.)

Will the book be available as a hardcover, Julie? You may be asking. That’s such a good question. And the answer is, I don’t know yet. If so, it would only be offered in limited quantities. So please order the paperback now, and then, if we do offer a hardcover, you can get both (!!!) and give one as a gift.

Before I let you go, let’s talk book tour fashion for a second. I wore this navy dress with gold coin details for two different book launch parties in 2023, as well as when DAUGHTERS received the New England Society Book Award for Fiction, and you can bet I will be wearing it again for STARGAZER, since it matches the new cover so perfectly! Way to go, design team!

Thanks in advance for all of your support, everyone!

xo

Julie

Spoiler alert. I know the answer to the question in my attention-grabbing title: I was already too old for Dawson’s Creek when it debuted in 1998 on the WB network. I was an adult, too busy for the weekly drama unfolding in Capeside with Joey and Dawson and Pacey and Jen because I was dealing with real life issues like planning my wedding and teaching middle schoolers who undoubtably watched the show instead of studying for my tests.

The same kind of thing happened with Gilmore Girls, which debuted when I was 30, and Gossip Girl at 37. However, in those cases, I watched each series years later on demand with my tween-ager, making us both feel included in the millennial zeitgeist, though I’m Gen X and my kid is Gen Z.

And now that Dawson’s Creek is on Netflix and I have no life left to plan (boring empty-nester, blah, blah blah), I have plenty of time to watch this super fun show, which I consider research for my third novel, a contemporary romance. Here are some major writerly takeaways from seasons one and two:

1. Unrequited love is a bitch

2. A love triangle is always good for tension

3. An affair with a teacher without consequences IS possible!

4. Don’t cut your hair like that, Michelle Williams!

That last one might be too specific for use in my new novel, but if you ever saw season two, then you know what I’m talking about.

This is how old I am: I had no idea that both Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams were on that show. I also didn’t know that Paula’s Cole’s “I Don’t Wanna Wait” was the Dawson’s Creek theme song.

The music in the show in general is really phenomenal, bringing me back to the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I told my kid about it, who is a junior in college, and so now Z is hooked on the show too. “He’s so cute!” Z gushed after watching a few episodes.

“James Van Der Beek? He has cancer,” my husband, Brett told me.

“What? How can he have cancer? I just met him and he’s only 15!” I wailed. “Life hasn’t gotten to him yet!”

“Oh, yeah,” everyone on the planet then seconded, when I expressed my sadness to my co-workers at Barrington Books and to the dry cleaner and my hairdresser. “He’s got cancer,” they all said. “Don’t you watch the news?”

I mean, I watch the news obviously. Usually I watch it with my hands over my face. But clearly, somehow there is a sinkhole in my life concerning ALL Dawson’s Creek related news.

Now, when I watch the show, I feel like a clairvoyant, because I can see into these actors’ futures, in which Katie Holmes marries Tom Cruise (disaster) and Michelle Williams has a baby with Heath Ledger (disaster) and James as previously discussed gets cancer (disaster) and Joshua Jackson never acts again (poor Josh)! It’s a lot for me to handle, emotionally. Maybe I should just stick to CNN.

Anyway, what are you watching? And what should I watch next? Hit me up with some good ideas in the comments. Also, I know we still have to get through Halloween, but it’s almost November, which is WICKED FOR GOOD month and I cannot wait to literally come unhinged in the theater when Ariana and Cynthia sing “For Good.”

Here’s what I’ve been reading. In late September, I read THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans. It’s one of my top 3 books of this year, easily. I loved it so much that I picked it for the book club I run at Barrington Books. (If you’re local, join us for our discussion — with wine! — on Thursday, Nov 20th at 7 pm in the store!) I also read a few other good ones, including Sue Monk Kidd’s great memoir for all writers and fans of storytelling, and the incredibly funny, dark, and moving novel THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS by Annie Hartnett, who was a writing teacher of mine. I had to see what the fuss was all about with THE PUMPKIN SPICE CAFE, which was cute and cozy but didn’t totally rock my world.

In next month’s post, I should be able to share the cover for THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET, so stay tuned! (I am pretty sure I said this last month, too, but now I really mean it.)

xo

Julie

1. DO NOT turn on the news or open Instagram. Ever.

Case in point. This week, I decided I was really really going to get into that Zen place where the writing flows and the characters speak through me and I am merely a vessel for the art that lives inside and all around me.

And then I turned on the news. And then I went down the rabbit hole in which people comment about the news, until my head was spinning and I couldn’t focus. Thank God for the new season of The Great British Baking Show, amiright?! Some people bake to heal, while some other people watch people bake to heal. If you are hurting or confused or angry or sad — or all of the above — I am sending you a hug and a warm cookie, all wrapped up in a soothing British accent.

And now I’m back, people! I did a little retail therapy and saw some writing group friends in Boston, and now it’s Saturday and I’ve returned to the desk with new vigor because days of the week don’t matter when you’re a writer under contract.

1. Listen when the universe sends you a song or two.

Should this new Nantucket novel begin on the roof of the house (in the past) or on the ferry (in the present)? This is what I’m wondering about as I walk through the grocery store. Milk, eggs, bread, roof. Or, should it be roof, milk, eggs, bread?

I self-check out and walk to the car, putting the groceries in the trunk. I’m on autopilot, seat belting in the here and now while picturing my book out the windshield. The more I think about it, the more I feel that starting in the present and returning to the past - on the roof in the second scene - feels right to me.

I turn on the engine, and what is playing? Perchance a James Taylor song that I haven’t heard for a thousand years?

Roof scene comes second. Thank you, universe.

Now let’s discuss narration. Should I write this book in close third or first person? In DAUGHTERS, I used third person present tense. So, for example, “Eliza Macy walks through town, worrying about x, y and z. She does this and she does that.” In THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET (pubbing on June 9th, 2026!) I wrote in third person omniscient narration to get into the mind of not just our main character Winnie Starbuck, but also her captain father, her merchant mother, the nasty first mate Sully, and the funny, sweet cabin boy, Chin — among others. This worked well for an ensemble cast of people living together for months on a clipper ship.

But book number three? Book number three is contemporary, for starters. (I know! Gasp!) and a love story (I know! Gasp again!). A Nantucket romance set in 1989 and the present. Therefore, the story needs to feel more intimate that any story I’ve told before. So while in my mind, I’m leaning towards first person (“I fell in love”), the actual words I’m writing on the computer are coming out of me in third person (“Becca fell in love.”)

Am I afraid to write in first person? Or am I just more comfortable in third, having relied upon it for the other two novels? This is what I am pondering as I get in my car a day or so after the Big Sign from James Taylor.

And what’s on the radio? Is it (gasp!) the goddess Diana Ross singing Ain’t No Mountain High Enough? Yes, it is. And anyone who knows anything about romantic comedies knows that this song is playing during the last scene of the film Bridget Jones’s Diary, in which the great Renée Zellweger runs in her bra and panties in the snow looking for her Darcy.

And anyone who knows this movie well should also know that the novel on which it is based is told in diary format, meaning FIRST PERSON.

The universe was OBVIOUSLY telling me — nay, screaming from the rooftops! — that my new novel should be written in first person. Bye bye, Becca. Hello, me. And I.

3. Try not to get distracted by your editor, who keeps emailing you exciting updates.

Now this one requires the focus of a Jedi. But when it comes to emails from important people like my agent and my editor, I have the attention span of a chihuahua. Oooh, look! New email from Leah titled COVER ART UPDATES. Should I click?

Of course I click! It’s cover art for STARGAZER!

And then I have to print out the images she’s sent and find my designer husband somewhere in the house, and then we have to discuss what we like about the artwork (almost everything! It’s gorgeous!) and what to tweak (font maybe?) and then whatdoyouknow it’s lunchtime, so we have to eat, and then I remember I’ve got to move the laundry to the dryer and then I think about taking a walk while the tide is low on my local beach while listening to a podcast and next thing you know it’s 4:00 and all I wrote was “Chapter Two” at the top of a page.

But the next day, I really get after it, because I’ve signed up for my writing workshop again and my first 50 pages are due on October 27th. And that’s tip #4 — Be held accountable by someone else!

And that’s how you do it, folks!

******

Here’s what I’ve been reading:

THE ACADEMY, Elin Hilderbrand’s new campus novel co-written with her daughter, is really fun. It comes out on Tuesday.

I got an advanced copy of WRECK, Catherine Newman’s sequel to SANDWICH, and loved being back with Rocky and the fam. It pubs on October 28th.

I’m a HUGE Katherine Center fan. THE LOVE-HATERS was a great vacation beach read and also doubled as “research” in the romance genre that I’m now attempting.

I love all things Beatriz Williams and UNDER THE STARS was perfect for the book club I’m in at Barrington Books! Page-turning, with great characters, sizzling dialogue, and, thanks in part to interwoven historical and contemporary timelines, so much to talk about.

Monica Wood’s HOW TO READ A BOOK is a must-read, if you ask me. About a retired woman who volunteers to lead a book group at a women’s prison in Maine, it’s crazy good, with a big heart. The book has sort of a cozy vibe, where the writing is lovely and the stakes are high and real, but mostly all of the very bad things happened before the book begins, if you know what I mean. People are on healing journeys, heading towards their HEA (Happily Ever Afters), which I appreciate. Also, HOW TO READ A BOOK was this year’s winner of the New England Society’s Book Award for Fiction, which my own DAUGHTERS OF NANTUCKET won last year. I feel humbled to be in her company.

Happy Fall,

xo

Julie

After much discussion and several different title try-ons, the team at Park Row and I have landed on a glorious title for my seafaring adventure story. May I present to you THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET, coming to bookstores on June 9, 2026!

From award-winning author Julie Gerstenblatt, an epic tale of adventure on the high seas, a spunky stowaway, and a family confronting the past to secure their future.

Oooooo! Exciting stuff! I cannot wait for you to meet the Starbucks and embark with them on their new clipper, the Stargazer. (All of their ships have “star” in the name, of course!) Mark your calendars, save the date, and prepare to get nauti! It’s still quite early for pre-orders, but once we have cover art for THE STARGAZER OF NANTUCKET, I will share info!

Speaking of cover art, I received an initial design that is stunning. I love the direction we are going in and I look forward to revealing the final product to you all, probably sometime in late fall. In the meantime, here is an image of the real ship that my Stargazer is based on, the record-breaking McKay clipper, Flying Cloud.

Isn’t she a beut? She’s a three-masted, square rigged clipper, which means, in non-sailor speak, that her main sails (5 on each of the three masts, so 15 in all) are not triangular like on a sunfish or schooner, but square (or more like rectangular) and wide to catch the wind, so she sails at a fast clip. Hence, clipper ship. Get it?

In the past 2 years, I learned more than you’ll ever want to know about boats and ships. And don’t even get me started on Chinese junks!

REVISION NEWS!

So, I’m going to sound like a major drama queen here, but I just handed in my line edits, and they almost killed me. Like, I can write a 430 page nautical novel set in 1851 with all of these made-up characters and omniscient narration and storms at sea and secrets and blackmailing and the California gold rush and on and on…and yet what I find crippling is when my editor asks WHAT DAY IS IT in the story and my answer is I DON’T KNOW.

See, the problem is that even though the story is fictional, time isn’t. Like, October 21st, 1851 was apparently NOT a Saturday. It was a Wednesday. And who throws a ball on a Wednesday? Nobody. In any time period. In any part of the world. Ever.

So, in revisions, I have to take my fictional ship and its fictional characters and change a bunch of my made-up dates (when the Stargazer docked, etc) to make sure the fictional people go to a fictional ball on a real Saturday in 1851. And then I get a migraine.

Other authors out there reading this Substack post — back me up on this! We can imagine worlds and do tons of research and spend months and years penning never-before-told stories, and yet it’s the continuity issues that bring us to our knees.

Don’t even ask me about where the passengers sleep on the ship because it’s a whole thing, even on a make-believe vessel. I currently I have PTSD from rearranging everyone’s sleeping arrangements, but I figured it out eventually and would be happy to discuss this with people at book club events in the future. But don’t say the words “cabin” or “Flying Cloud” or “the hold” to me right now, please and thank you.

If I liken the writing process to a journey at sea, I would say that we have left behind the gusty wind of first drafting and the stormy waters of revision and are about to enter the calms, where, both literally and metaphorically, nothing happens on my end for months as the novel gets ready for production.*

*Except writing a whole new book while I’m waiting, that is! More news about this to come in September. Or October. Or definitely on a real Saturday in November, like perhaps the 22nd?

SEASONAL STUFF, WITH PHOTOS!

In other news, it’s been high summer in New England. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it where you live, but here the weather has been lovely.

Since I wrote to you last, I have enjoyed a few great gatherings, including but not limited to:

• A week in July enjoying another Offshore Artist Residency through NISDA, the Nantucket School of Design and the Arts. I worked on my novel’s revisions when not swimming in the ocean, eating oysters, doing yoga in a barn, or singing with the piano at BOTH the Summer House and The Club Car. I’m unstoppable when Elton John comes on, what can I say?

• I also made some artsy friends at the residency (Brooke, a painter, Kat, a photographer and Kaya, a plus-one lawyer fleeing her three young kids), and we attended a talk about miniature basket weaving and danced to a great cover band at Cisco Brewers. Here we are at the Straight Wharf Bar. I look mildly possessed.

• I signed books at Mitchell’s Book Corner and had lunch with Nancy Thayer and a new friend, Denice Kronau.

• Brett made art!

• Also, in August several friends from my writing group came for a weekend retreat, there were visits to the yacht club, and my best friend from high school and her husband came for two stunning beach days. Lots of fun in the sun.

Lastly, I have been reading some great books and I’m sure you have been too, so please share titles. I’ll sign off for August with a few recent favorites. A steamy-wintry romance, a literary ecological and psychological thriller, a set-in-Rhode Island pick, and the 5th book in the Hunger Games series. I’m sort of like a clipper ship sailing around the globe, because my reading is all over the map these days.

See you in September!

xo

Julie

We all have a busy weekend ahead, so I’ll keep this brief.

I realized that in my last Substack, I forgot to mention something exciting: for the first time ever, I will be signing books on Nantucket on the anniversary of The Great Fire of 1846! If you are looking for a good excuse to hop on a ferry and come over for the day, I say do it — on Sunday, July 13th! And come visit me at Mitchell’s Book Corner from 10:30-12:00. Tell your friends! And then get yourself a lobster roll and hang out on a beach. Or walk around town and ooooh and ahhh over the rebuilt beauty of the place and go shopping. Or head to the Whaling Museum for some great whale watching — and more fire!

Highlights for your day:

Visit the Whaling Museum’s new exhibit, Behind the Seams: Clothing and Textiles on Nantucket. (They had me at “clothing.”)

Then go shopping for actual clothing. Two of my favorite stores are Erica Wilson and Veronica Beard.

Staying close to town? Head to Jetties Beach for sunset with your toes in the sand, live music, and a margarita and oysters at Sandbar.

Heading out by car or bike? East: Walk the ‘Sconset bluff walk and grab a drink in the garden at The Chanticleer. West: grab a margarita and queso with chips TO GO from Millie’s and watch the sunset at Madaket Beach.

Beach, drink, shop, read a good book, repeat.

Thanks to the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts, Brett and I will be on island from July 7-14, enjoying another Offshore Artist Residency.

And, truly, happy birthday to me: I woke up to line-edits from my editor at Park Row. Yes, this means more work for me, but it is such a gift to have Leah read through the work so carefully. Each revision means the book is closer to reaching YOU, and makes the book better and better. Leah and I both absolutely love this adventurous seafaring novel, tbh. I will be working through those edits while on Nantucket, and, in my next Substack, I promise to reveal the new title! Cover art is underway and everyone is super excited!

Lastly, I’m watching The Buccaneers on Apple TV, a retelling of Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel of the same name, about five young, wealthy American women who seek to marry into the British aristocracy in the 1870s. The story concept is pure Edith Wharton genius. But the show….? It’s kinda bad? But also very binge-worthy? And, since Wharton is one of my favorite writers, this is a good reason to read the book now, which was completed in 1994 by author Marion Mainwaring for Penguin, and I’m intrigued. Read with me?! Feel free to share opinions on the show?! (Poor Edith, to die before finishing her novel! An author’s worth nightmare! Would she be content with the results?!)

Happy summer!

xo

Julie

So, instead of weighing in on this weighty world, I’d like to focus on what makes me feel sane during troubling times like these: community and connection. By staying focused on the people and places that bring me joy, I can temper the noise and the stress. I donate to causes I care about and show up for things I believe in. Mostly, I spend time engaging with literature and with those who love it like I do.

Also! Every time you feel “bad” for sitting around and reading instead of doing laundry or something, remember that reading and writing are more than mere escapism; they are political and democratic acts.

That brings me to an update about my job, working in an independent bookstore in my town. I’ve been there for two whole months, and overall, it’s going well.

Barrington Books is all about customer service. If we don’t have a book you are looking for in stock, we can order it for you. If you are buying a gift for a teacher / baby shower / child’s birthday party, we can help you select something just right and add our complementary wrap service, which includes beautiful, signature green paper and three colors of ribbons of your choice from our rainbow ribbon wall. Not sure what to get that special someone? A gift card always fits. We sold so many gift cards in June that we ran out of the little corresponding envelopes!

At the bookstore, I really like to go above and beyond the expected level of service. Call it the Gerstenblatt Touch. My personal concierge services include:

• Extra-slow wrapping, oftentimes mis-measuring the size of the gift and the size of the paper and having to re-do the whole thing while sweating profusely and / or quietly cursing

• Butting in, telling you what books I think you should be reading and why - even if you haven’t asked and / or only came in for a sympathy card

• Relying on old math, the kind where someone gives you a $50 bill for candy that costs $4.40 and, instead of looking at the computer screen to tell you how much you owe them, you count the coins on your fingers and say the numbers out loud, “fifty-seven cents, fifty-eight cents, fifty-nine cents, and…forty-five dollars and sixty cents is your change!”

• Tap school, in which I “school” older people in how to face the tapping feature on the credit card machine with patience and confidence. This is probably the most critical part of my employment. I have found that, when hearing the phrase “you can tap or insert when you’re ready,” Baby Boomers go into total panic mode about trying to tap. Gen Xers too, although to a lesser degree.

The key to Tap School success is this: you must understand that “tapping” is a misnomer, at least in our store. “Tapping” takes a moment. It does not happen instantaneously. You do not have to flip the card over before tapping it. You will not be successful by waving your credit card magically above the machine while muttering “is this right? Did I do it?” No, it is not right, and no, you did not do it.

The person will then provide a multitude of excuses about their card. “It’s old,” they say. “It doesn’t work with these machines.” Oh, something is old for sure, but I resist naming names.

“Let’s try that again from the top,” I say, after the machine rejects them with the Ding of Failure. “You totally can learn this!” And then I teach them The Way. I guide their hand to the correct placement and make them hold it right there. And then the machine makes the Ding of Success, and their shoulders drop in relief. Not to brag, but I make the world a better place, one tap at a time.

An independent bookstore is balm for the soul. However, standing in a bookstore for 5 hour shifts is a pain in the sole. I have had to forego almost all of my cute sandals when I dress for the bookstore. Here are some highlights from my work footwear collection.

Lastly, I’d like to share some book news! As I mentioned last month, we have a new title for my seafaring adventure. I am still awaiting the official okay to share it with you, so stay tuned. I also hope to be able to pub date soon as well. I am just starting to work on book #3, which is fun too, but it’s so new that I can’t tell you anything about it because I cannot even clearly articulate it to myself.

I have been busy interviewing and /or attending author events of writer friends who stop in Rhode Island on their book tours. First up in June, I interviewed Lian Dolan about her super smart and funny novel ABIGAIL AND ALEXA SAVE THE WEDDING at Charter Books in Newport. Last week, I spoke with Elise Hooper, author of the fab dual-timeline THE LIBRARY OF LOST DOLLHOUSES in Charlestown, and next week I will be moderating a discussion between Annabel Monaghan and Meg Mitchell Moore about their swoon-worthy summer reads, IT’S A LOVE STORY and MANSION BEACH at The Contemporary Theater Company with Wakefield Books. I also got to see Emily Franklin (THE LIONESS OF BOSTON) and Dawn Tripp (JACKIE) in conversation at local indie fave Inkfish Books. Biographical fiction about Isabella Stewart Gardener and Jackie Kennedy? Talk about a dynamic duo.

Here some of the books I’ve been getting lost in. I hope you can get lost on a beach or on a boat or at a pool this weekend — with a good book, of course!

See you back here in July!

xo

Julie

It isn’t often that Brett and I go on big trips. In 2018, we went to Greece, because visiting two islands seems to be our thing. Fast forward….and suddenly, it’s 7 years later. Time flies and life is short. I was especially grateful for this advance from HarperCollins, and, with my 55th birthday coming up, it felt like time to visit the next place on that bucket list. Mahalo!

So, I feel lucky whenever I get the chance to go away, but then I get stressed about packing for the vacation. Does this ever happen to you?

And if so, have you ever purchased something last minute for the trip because you last-minute-realized that you didn’t have the right fill-in-the-blank?

Well, I see you.

We began the trip by visiting our son in Los Angeles for his 23rd birthday, and then continued on to the islands. (The grown-up child was not particularly happy about being left behind, btw.) This plan made a lot of sense logistically, but it complicated my suitcase’s plot line. Not only was I packing for tropical islands — think sarongs and flip-flops — but dinners out in a hip city with cool young creative types — think what would I wear out to a vibey bar in Silver Lake? (Jeans and a black leather jacket that I don’t own is the answer.) I wore a green linen wrap dress that screamed, “I’m the mother of one of these people! And thank you for blasting Madonna!”

I have nice clothes, but when I pack, suddenly nothing fits right. I mean, it fits on my body, but not for the specific parameters of the trip. I’ll pull out a dress that I adore…but it’s too long for the little heels I’m bringing with me. Back to the closet it goes. I’ll pick another dress that works with the shoe criteria, but it weighs about ten pounds. Is it made of chain mail? How did I never notice this before? I shove it back in. Another option wrinkles immediately.

Once I have my capsule wardrobe pretty much selected for the trip, I line up the hangers along the glass shower door and step back. Because now it’s time to edit.

I ask myself pressing questions like, Who am I on this trip? Bohemian artiste? Preppy-chic New Englander? Sophisticated ex-New Yorker? Confident peri-menopausal empty-nester? Once I decide on my character, I try to eliminate anything that doesn’t work in the narrative clothing arc.

And then I fold it all into compression packing cubes to make it fit.

And, in this way, by sitting on a suitcase and zipping it up with everything inside, packing for a trip is like revising a novel.

Many writers will tell you that, through editing, the story really reveals itself. Some writers underwrite that first draft - meaning they get 70,000 words down when the final draft will be closer to 90,000 words - and others (namely moi) overwrite, meaning that their editor emails them while they are VACATIONING IN KONA and tells them that they have to cut 50,000 words from their novel as soon as is humanly possible.

Yes, this happened to me while hiking to the crater floor of a volcano, pretending to be a fit, exercise-loving, outdoorsy type in her Athleta cropped petite travel pants (the pants really helped sell the narrative). My agent quickly stepped in, and it was agreed that I’d cut 25,000 words. It was like a book deal negotiation in reverse — please, get me less!

While the timing of this email wasn’t great, it also was great, because it gave me literal narrative distance from the story. While snorkeling off a black sand beach, I was about as far away from my book as I would ever be. Still a week away from home, I couldn’t just dive in (haha) to edits. I had time to think.

Upon my return, I met with my editor, Leah, via Zoom and dug in. The book is told in omniscient narration, meaning that we have a large cast of characters on board the Shooting Star and can see into the helmsman’s head as well as the the first-mates, the captain’s and his wife’s. So, in terms of what and where to cut, Leah’s main note was to keep the narrative focused on my main character Winnie Starbuck whenever in doubt.

It brought me back to packing for Hawaii: think about that narrative arc. What’s crucial to the story here? What’s extraneous? If you don’t bring it along on the journey, will anyone miss it (besides from you, of course)?

It was time to be ruthless and send some scenes packing.

Some of you know that I use a pocket calendar to chart my daily word count progress when building a novel. I now had to create a subtraction list for my daily word cut progress.

Like Marie Condo asking what sparks joy, it felt good to let things go. I knew my book was too long and anticipated that cutting would be a major part of the revision process. I worked quickly and eliminated 24,000 words, or close to 65 pages, until I could no longer see straight.

The manuscript is once again in my editor’s hands. May she have fair winds and following seas.

In other news:

• I have started working a few afternoons a week at my local indie bookstore, Barrington Books. Come by and visit me on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

• My novel is getting a new title! We have been busy brainstorming and I will let you know once I know what it is. Also working on a pub date in summer 2026.

• I have been reading a lot! Especially if you are off to Hawaii, and Kauai and Kona in particular, I highly recommend reading Hampton Sides’ The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook. Here are some of my other recent fave titles!

xo

Julie

*Who knew the world would be falling apart when I made those travel plans? I missed the April 6th “No Kings” march in Boston, so I attended one in Providence when I got back. Sending lots of love and shared frustration / anger to anyone (everyone) really feeling the effects of this administration. Escape into a good novel, maybe?!

Let’s debrief, shall we?

1. My new novel SHE MERCHANTS OF NANTUCKET was due to my editor in mid-March. Having never before a. written under contract with a deadline or b. written a sprawling, globetrotting, seafaring adventure novel with omniscient narration (!!!), getting this done by March 17th seemed as daunting as navigating an 1851 clipper ship around Cape Horn in gale force winds. Nevertheless, folks, SHE MERCHANTS persisted. The manuscript is complete, it is now safely in the hands of my agent and editor, and the story (if I must say so myself) is pretty darned entertaining. Land, Ho!

   

2. Having gotten that off of my desk, one would THINK it was time to relax. But no. March Madness was well underway. So, after spending 16 months toiling away at my desk in my pajamas (with intermittent showering those last few weeks, honestly), I got dressed and left the house. (Say it isn’t so!) And then I boarded a ferry. (Because I have to pretend to always live now in a seafaring adventure story!) And then I helped lead the first-ever Nantucket Writing & Rejuvenation Retreat in partnership with The Nantucket Hotel on the island that is my very favorite place on earth, with friends and co-leaders Mary Bergman and Holly Finigan. (Because the lovely ladies said yes to my madcap idea!) And it was really and truly incredible. Like, author Brooke Lea Foster writing over 10,000 words incredible. Like Grapevine Gal bookstagrammer Julie McTernan in a turkey suit by the fire pit incredible. Like people crying at the end of the weekend incredible (including, yes, me). It was life-changing, with huge hugs and tremendous bonding incredible. At the risk of sounding completely hyperbolic, the retreat was magical.

   One personal highlight of the weekend was getting to tour the town through a DAUGHTERS OF NANTUCKET lens, where I showed off points of interest like where the fire started and where my characters (both real and imagined) lived and worked. We even visited Maria Mitchell’s portrait in the Atheneum! She never really looks that happy to see me.

   

   Has anyone else ever danced before at The Brotherhood? Because I’m pretty sure it’s not a place to dance. But a pesky little detail like that didn’t stop us!

   Has anyone else ever gone upstairs at Nantucket Looms to learn about making stuff on the loom? Because we did! (Shout out to Looms for being our one-and-only sponsor, too!)

   The retreat was also exhausting, tbh. It required so much work and being on and social and chatty and teaching (and not in my pajamas!) that I came home completely worn out. Every time I expressed how tired I was this week, my mother made annoying comments like “You know, at YOUR age, you really have to…” which I know she enjoyed tremendously. Now Brett’s doing it too. I promised myself I’d never run an event like this again, but who am I kidding? Look at all these wonderful, smiling writers just waiting to tell their stories. Stay tuned for info for 2026!

3. Once home, I got my hair cut and colored and now it looks really nice and fresh and I cannot believe that everyone saw me at the retreat (and took lots of pics of me) with my bad-looking, roots-showing, book-writing hair. I feel like I need another event to show it off!

4. Which brings me to April, and a big trip Brett and I have planned to really relax and enjoy time with one another and to celebrate a. our son’s 23rd birthday, b. my 2-book deal, and c. an approaching biggish birthday of my own. The destination is one I’ve always wanted to see, and it also ties into the mythology of SHE MERCHANTS, so follow along on Instagram, and I promise to tell you all about it when I get back. Hint: you know I can’t resist an island. Or two.

xo

Julie

Have you noticed that the world is sort of on fire right now? I’m trying to read light to balance out the heaviness of the news. For fans of Bridgerton, A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting is a delightful comedy-of-manners, a Regency romance with smart wit and a plucky heroine with #goals who reminds me a bit of my own new main character, Winifred Starbuck. Join me and the ton of readers who have loved this book. And I just started Anne Tyler’s Three Days in June and am loving it. It’s filled with the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author’s characteristic humor and pathos — plus, it’s a slim little thing that I will probably finish today. Talk about feeling accomplished!

I’ve got something better. It’s cozy, it’s soft, and, thanks to overnight delivery from Amazon, it’s a gift that you can take to bed with you as soon as tomorrow evening.

May I present the perfect Valentine’s present: the knee pillow.

Isn’t she a beauty? Made from high-quality memory foam and including an adjustable strap for added security, the Everlasting Comfort Knee Pillow will help you feel as sexy as any 54-year-old with chronic back pain, vague knee issues and left-leg-tingling sciatica has a right to feel. Take the pressure off. Feel relief, even if it’s only in the lower half of your body and not at all in your elected (and faux-lected) government.

But wait! There’s more! If you act now, you can also get a matching one for the person who snores next to you in bed - I mean, that super handsome guy you have loved since the mid-90’s.

If this pillow doesn’t make you want to jump into bed and stay there for a while with your significant other, there might be something wrong with you. (I mean, something wronger than your insomnia and undiagnosed generalized anxiety.)

So tomorrow night, light a fire and jump in the sack — metaphorically, I mean, because who jumps anymore without dislocating a disc — with someone you love.

Sending Valentine’s hugs — and NSAIDs.

xo

Julie

PS - This pillow actually saved me from several months of physical therapy for an old knee. It worked overnight. Pain gone. I swear. I take it with me everywhere and it’s not weird at all, from a retreat in Vermont, to another in the Berkshires, to my mom’s apartment in NYC and a friend’s place on Long Island.

PPS - Workwise, The Nantucket Writing & Rejuvenation Retreat is sold out. And my draft for SHE MERCHANTS OF NANTUCKET is coming along well, sailing swiftly towards its March 15th deadline.

PPPS - Here are some books that I loved recently if for some reason the knee pillow is just too kinky for you:

Tartufo is a fantastically funny story featuring a cast of colorful characters in a dying Italian village and a giant truffle that changes their fate forever in this “deliciously absurd tale….I savored every page of this book.” (Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures)

This book was so funny that I laughed out loud in the family waiting room at the Hospital for Special Surgery while my mother was having a laminectomy of her spine. Then I DM’ed the author — who wrote back! (And my mom is doing okay, thanks! To help in her recovery, I may buy her a knee pillow and this book.)

The Ministry of Time is a time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all. Both Barack Obama and I loved it.

I repeat: TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE!

And finally, I give you A GORGEOUS EXCITEMENT. I picked this up thanks to a tip from my bookish best friend from college, who you can follow on instagram Gaby’s Good Reads, @gabys.good.reads. The novel, whose title comes from Freud’s moniker for cocaine, uses the Preppy Murder case as a re-imagined, jumping-off point for the narrative and includes great 80’s references to the Palladium and Limelight as well as less-great references to omnipresent soft-core antisemitism (like calling U Penn “Jap City”).

Below is a part of her review of this novel:

Cynthia Weiner’s A GORGEOUS EXCITEMENT is set on Manhattan’s Upper East Side during the summer of 1986, when the place to be for the rich kids is Flanagan’s bar and the private school girls are all after one Gardner Reed, a handsome college dropout loosely based on Robert Chambers. Nina Jacobs, a recent high school graduate, is ready to gain some sexual experience–preferably with Gardner–and escape her bipolar mother’s embarrassing scenes. This coming-of-age novel perfectly captures the drug-hazed 80s, when cocaine was everywhere for the kids with plenty of money and no supervision. Beautifully detailed and observed, Nina and her friends roam Manhattan’s neighborhoods, clubs and parks in search of drugs, boys and excitement. As Nina and Gardner develop a flirtation, the reader fears for her safety, as we know the peril of going home with Gardner. Will she become his Jennifer Levin?

Get lost in a good book - and hug a knee pillow or a person you love!