The Four Ms. Bradwells

Ms. Magazine Great Read for Summer
Working Mother Magazine Summer Selection
Literary Guild Book Club Fiction Pick and Mystery Guild Selection
Pulpwood Queens Book Club Choice, November 2012
Random House Reader's Circle Selection
Target Selection for Book Clubs for Winter 2012-13

The Wednesday Sisters

Bookmovement Top 20 Book Club Pick for 2010
based on Readers' Choices
The Target Bookmarked Selection for Summer 2009
- their #1 Recommendation for Book Clubs
Pulpwood Queens National Book Club Read, August 2008
Literary Ladies of South Jersey Random House Reader's Circle Pick for Book Clubs

The Language of Light

Target Selection for Book Clubs for Summer 2011
Random House Reader's Circle Selection for Book Clubs
Finalist for Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize
(now the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction)

What Book Groups Like Yours are Saying

"Grab a few bottles of wine when your book club discusses The Wednesday Sisters because you're in for a long—and quite interesting—evening. We fell in love with this novel, which uncorked discussions of friendship, marriage, motherhood, writing and what it was like to live through the changing times of the late twentieth century." - Jane Schreier Jones, The PageTurners Book Club, Springboro, Ohio

"With The Four Ms. Bradwells, we could have talked all night. The novel explores thirty years worth of loyalty and friendship among four interesting women, while along the way the characters deal with other issues including mother/daughter relations, career blues, sexism, racism, closeted homosexuality, child abuse, and unwanted pregnancy. Having Ms. Waite Clayton in attendance was an additional pleasure, giving us the wonderful opportunity to gain insights into her process and the genesis of these four Bradwells. Grab the book, gather your friends, and get Meg on the phone!" - Laura Vitez, Friends of Friends Bookclub, Woodside, California

"The Wednesday Sisters celebrates the power and strength that a community of women can bring to each other. It is a book that all of us in our book club have treasured and will be passing on to the next generation of "sisters" of the heart." - Niki Saxena, The Palo Alto Book Club, Palo Alto, California

"The Wednesday Sisters is a story about a female friendship group, but this book lead our book club to an in-depth discussion on the evolution of feminism and racism over the last four decades. We were amazed at how behaviors and thoughts have changed and how it has altered our lives, quite similar to how it affects the 'sisters' in the book." - Mary Scavarda, The Kinda Sorta Book Club, Mountain View, CA

"Clayton somehow not only takes these complicated friendships with their insane amounts of baggage and writes them compellingly, she makes the reader feel the true love each of [the four Ms. Bradwells] feels for her three friends. It’s an incredible feat … an excellent book club pick." — Swapna Krishna, S. Krishna's Books

"Book clubs will love The Four Ms. Bradwells … Clayton neatly binds her exploration of the changing roles of women both in law and society into the mystery that has driven the women to the island." — Colloquium

"I laughed, I cried, I learned! The Wednesday Sisters is destined to be a book that women give to their girlfriends!" - Elizabeth Miller, The Literary Ladies, South Jersey, Burlington, New Jersey

"A wonderful book about sisterhood and personal growth—an inspiration!" - Caroline Tonetti, Yale Road Book Club, Menlo Park, CA

"The Wednesday Sisters are as delightful, insightful, and wonderful a group of women as you could ever hope to meet. This book is about people; about the power of being a woman; it is about you and me, your mother and your sweetest sister-friend." - Amanda Waterhouse, Chicks on Lit, Greensboro, North Carolina

"Our book club has women of all ages and stages. Each of us loved The Wednesday Sisters for different reasons and found ourselves identifying with different women in the book. We all agreed it gave us a great insight into the real issues faced by women who lived in the shadows of their husbands' careers, but who found their own ways to express their individualism." - Mary Marsh, the Palo Alto Book Club, Palo Alto, CA

"The girls in our book club could relate to so many of the things these women went through, yet reading about it all through Meg's characters was like looking at it through a kaleidoscope of many colors—much more fun!" - Julie Hardy, The Pulpwood Queens, Tyler, Texas

"The Four Ms. Bradwells should naturally become a book club favorite."—David M. Kinchen, BasilandSpice.com

"Meg Waite Clayton does an amazing job transporting us to the past, making us feel not like observers, but Ladies of the Evening participants, in a rich past, a time of great social upheaval that changed the technology industry, California culture, race and class perceptions, and most vividly, women's position in society. A remarkably powerful experience to share the sister's experiences and be reminded how far we've come in such a short time." - IdaRose Sylvester, The Kinda Sorta Bookclub, Mountain View, CA

"I loved The Wednesday Sisters … The story unfolds beautifully with five women sharing life and finding a deepened friendship over time. It reminds me of how the members of our Book Club are growing in our relationships with each other the longer we meet and discuss books like Meg Waite Clayton's." - Barbara Tyler, Yale Road Book Club, Menlo Park, CA

" A definite must read for those of us whose lives have been touched by the grace of friendships from other women." - Anne Joste Dazey, Another Chapter Book Club, Palo Alto, California

"The Wednesday Sisters brings five women to life—their friendships, their love of writing and literature along with their struggles and triumphs over the years. A book club gem—thought-provoking for all ages." - Debbie Earl, The Laker Women, Prior Lake, Minnesota

"As I read this fun book, I reached back to remember Stanford of the 60's … a place of challenges and opportunities, but also with curfews, dress codes, and no Title IX—so without women's sport teams like basketball, soccer, and tennis. ... When I share this touching book with my granddaughters some future day (and I certainly will), I will laugh when they look at me in disbelief and say, 'no way!'" - Elizabeth Blois, Yale Road Book Club, Menlo Park, CA

"I grew up in Palo Alto and went to Castilleja Girls School—what a memorable trip down memory lane with The Wednesday Sisters. Meg Waite Clayton captures the essence of girls who become women." - Belinda Rose, Yale Road Book Club, Menlo Park, CA

"Being somewhat of a Wednesday Sisters group ourselves … our book club thoroughly enjoyed the book. We especially loved the way you ended the story. Skyping with you was an extra bonus for all of us. We can't wait to read your next book." - Carol Pinnel, Niceville, FL

"Gifted, Entertaining, and Mysterious — a GEM of a Novel!" — Marsha Toy Engstrom, Book Club Cheerleader, on The Four Ms. Bradwells

A Four Ms. Bradwells Santa Barbara Getaway
with The Wednesday Daughters, too!

I’ve had such amazing chats with so many of you over The Wednesday Sisters, The Language of Light, and The Four Ms. Bradwells in hardcover – thank you all for sharing your time with me, and for the wonderful feedback about those gatherings and the books. (Do please scroll up to see the wonderful photos and comments if you haven't already.)

And of course I would love to chat with more of you over the The Four Ms. Bradwells now that the paperback is coming out – December 20, 2011!

So as a thank you for book groups or gatherings of friends who choose to read The Four Ms. Bradwells together and include me in your chats in January, February, or March, I want to do something special:

I’ll put the name of each person attending one of the gatherings into my favorite book bag, from which I’ll pull a single name – and I'll invite that person to spend a week with up to five of his or her friends at Mac’s and my Santa Barbara vacation home.
In any event, whether one of your group members is selected for the getaway or not, I’ll send your group one signed first edition hardcover of my first novel, The Language of Light. My lovely friends at Ballantine allowed me to restore the original ending, as it stood when it was named a finalsit for the Bellwether Prize. So you can see the change for yourself. Inscribed copies have been listed on Amazon for horrific amounts ($84.77? really?), but fortunately I do own a pen!

(Go ahead and take a look at the details of the house by tapping on any of the photos. This page will still be here after you’ve imagined yourself eating breakfast on the stone patio to the sound of the waterfall, swimming in the pool, walking on the beach, and watching the moon rise as you soak in the spa. Make sure to check out our Guest Reviews page, and our Having Fun in Santa Barbara one!)

If your name is selected for the getaway, you can pick your week from any available one in April or May, or in October (our favorite time to be there).* And I’ll make sure you have bound copies of The Wednesday Daughters to read together, so you'll be the first!

Don’t belong to a group? January is a great time to form one. (My own neighborhood group first met in January of 2004!) But if you’re reluctant to start anything that formal, simply invite a few friends to read The Four Ms. Bradwells together and chat with me.

Just email me through this link to set up a date for an in-person or online-video chat to be completed by March 28th. I'll schedule chats as long as there are dates to be had, but I leave for six weeks of travel – including a month in Paris! – that week, so that's the deadline.

If your group already read The Four Ms. Bradwells together and included me in your gathering, please email me!

Now if only I could invite all the groups I visit to spend a week in Santa Barbara instead of only one, but alas…

Thanks for reading, and for sharing your time with me!

Warmly,
Meg

*Please note: Travel expenses to and from Santa Barbara will be left to you. And just in case: no purchase or payment necessary; the likelihood that someone in your group will receive the invitation will depend on how many groups participate, but it's hard to imagine I could visit even as many as 50 in three months, so probably something better than 1 in 50; and void where/if prohibited. Thanks!

How to Arrange a Book Group Chat

I love to visit book groups who are reading The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters, or The Language of Light, Los Altos PEO either in person if you are—as my dear old dad used to say about boys I dated—"geographically suitable" (in or near Palo Alto, CA), or by phone or online video chat if you aren't. To arrange a time that works for your group and me, please email me through this link, which should pop up a nifty little email box with "Please Join Our Book Club Discussion" in the subject line. And please do suggest a date or two that would work for your group!

And Please Visit the Book Club Pages:

The Four Ms. Bradwells
The Wednesday Sisters
The Language of Light

I look forward to chatting with you! - Meg

If You'd Like to Add Your Own Book Group Photos and Thoughts:

If your book group has read The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters, or The Language of Light and would like to contribute your thoughts and/or a photograph to this page, please email me through this link.

Belmont Book Group Dayton Book Group Indiana Book Group

What Book Clubs are Saying, A Four Ms. Bradwells Santa Barbara Getaway, and Arranging Chats for…