Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman
Women's Fiction, 352 pages
Published June 13, 2023 by Graydon House
"Full of summertime delight…and sweet, nostalgic charm, Famous in a Small Town is a beautiful reminder to…fully embrace the magic that lives inside you."—Heather Webber, USA TODAY bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Café
For most of her eighty years, Mary Jackson has endured the steady invasion of tourists, influencers and real estate developers who have discovered the lakeside charm of Good Hart, Michigan, waiting patiently for the arrival of a stranger she’s believed since childhood would one day carry on her legacy—the Very Cherry General Store. Like generations of Jackson women before her, Cherry Mary, as she’s known locally, runs the community hub—part post office, bakery and sandwich shop—and had almost given up hope that the mysterious prediction she’d been told as a girl would come true and the store would have to pass to…a man.
Becky Thatcher came to Good Hart with her ride-or-die BFF to forget that she’s just turned forty with nothing to show for it. Ending up at the general store with Mary is admittedly not the beach vacation she expected, but the more the feisty octogenarian talks about destiny, the stronger Becky’s memories of her own childhood holidays become, and the strange visions over the lake she was never sure were real. As she works under Mary’s wing for the summer and finds she fits into this quirky community of locals, she starts to believe that destiny could be real, and that it might have something very special in mind for Becky…
Bursting with memorable characters and small-town lore, the enchanting new novel from the bestselling author of The Clover Girls is a magical story about the family you’re born with, and the one you choose.
My thoughts about Famous in a Small Town ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)
First lines—"The Lake Express Times - August 1958 - 'Good News from Good Hart' by Shirley Ann Potter - It was the spit heard 'round the world!"
As always, when I start one of Viola Shipman's books, I am immediately swept away to another world that I never want to leave. These worlds are filled with wonderful, caring people who all have interesting, beautiful stories. They start to feel like friends and I care about all of them so much.
Famous in a Small Town takes the reader to the Michigan world of cherries—everything cherries. When Cherry Mary meets Becky Thatcher, she feels like this is the woman she has been waiting for to fulfill a destiny. Becky also gets some answers to troubling visions she has had her whole life. Was this meeting 'meant to be'?
All of Shipman's stories are lovely stories with compassionate, memorable characters. And each one is such a wonderful escape from the real world, just for a little bit. And throw in a bit magic to the storyline and it's all good. I've loved all of Shipman's stories and always look forward to her new one. I highly recommend Famous in a Small Town as well as all of her other books!
I received a copy of Famous in a Small Town from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
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Note from the author
***FRIED GREEN TOMATO MEETS VIRGIN RIVER!***
Dear Reader:
Welcome! I am the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of fifteen books that have been translated into nearly 25 languages. I write fiction under the pen name, Viola Shipman, as a tribute to my working poor Ozarks grandma, whose memory and love inspire my novels and inspired me to become a writer. My novels are a tribute to family and our elders and meant to inspire hope. My grandma used to say, "Life is as short as one blink of God's eye, but we too often forget what matters most in that blink." As a result, my novels remind readers of what matters most in life: Each other.
My new summer novel, Famous in a Small Town (yes, like the Miranda Lambert song!), publishes June 13 and is available for preorder now. I'm honored that it’s being compared to Fried Green Tomatoes and that Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Virgin River, is raving about it. It is a beautiful story about finding the magic that lives within each of us, and I know it will touch your heart.
Growing up in the Ozarks, my grandmas were my best friends. I never considered them to be “old,” I thought of them in the same way I did my friends from school. We played board games, we read books, we baked together, we floated in inner tubes down the creek holding hands, we danced to Lawrence Welk, we laughed watching Happy Days.
To this day, I’ve always had friends who were much older than me. In fact, some of my dearest friends today are in their 80s. I also have friends much younger than me and am a godparent to teenagers. Like all good friends, we not only support each other through the good and bad, but we also push each other to dream big and be our best selves. We lend each other individual strengths to make the other whole and stronger. We fill in those missing gaps in our souls. We all keep each other young.
This novel celebrates intergenerational friendships, and why it’s important in life – and in society – to look at people not simply at face value but within their hearts. This book celebrates the fact that there is no age limit on friendship, new adventures, taking risks and becoming the person you always dreamed of being.
This book is also a celebration of women, especially women who have to overcome incredible obstacles and hardships – and often bad men – in their lives to protect their families and come into their own. Much like my grandmas, the women in this novel use ingenuity, hard work, faith, a love of the land and a love for one another to soldier on with grace, determination, resilience and open hearts.
This novel, as all my novels do, celebrates the beauty and wonder of Michigan and its bounty along with loads of lore, such as the famed Fata Morgana, illusions that appear over Lake Michigan (are they real or not?). Famous in a Small Town place in the storybook (and very real) small town of Good Hart, Michigan, along the storybook (and very real) Tunnel of Trees. This is a breathtaking stretch of road in which the trees grow so dense they canopy the road for miles, choking out the sunlight and offering stunning views at every twist and turn.
I also used the very real, very quaint and very historic Good Hart General Store as the foundation to create The Very Cherry General Store. There is no place more I love to visit in the summer or fall than this historic general store (look it up!).
If you are from Michigan, you begin to understand – in a very short time and especially in summer – that cherries are life. From a stop at a roadside stand to the very real Cherry Festival in Traverse City every year, this fruit is the cherry on top of Michigan. I love all things cherry, and it was a joy to bring them to life – history, recipes, lore – in this novel.
This novel started long ago on a summer vacation day in northern Michigan: I went to Cherry Republic, gorged on all things chocolate and cherry, and then – after a glass of wine – tried.
About the author
Viola Shipman is the pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother's name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his writing. Rouse is the author of The Summer Cottage, as well as The Charm Bracelet and The Hope Chest which have been translated into more than a dozen languages and become international bestsellers.
He lives in Saugatuck, Michigan and Palm Springs, California, and has written for People, Coastal Living, Good Housekeeping, and Taste of Home, along with other publications, and is a contributor to All Things Considered.
Connect with Viola
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