Publication Date: September 17, 2024
“A sharply plotted, emotionally intense novel of family secrets, fresh starts and community” —Jayne Ann Krentz
She left her hometown following a scandal—but family loyalty is dragging her back…
Despite their strained relationship, when Gia Rossi’s sister, Margot, begs her to come home to Wakefield, Iowa, to help with their ailing mother, Gia knows she has no choice. After her rebellious and at-times-tumultuous teen years, Gia left town with little reason to look back. But she knows Margot’s borne the brunt of their mother’s care and now it’s Gia’s turn to help, even if it means opening old wounds.
As expected, Gia’s homecoming is far from welcome. There’s the Banned Books Club she started after the PTA overzealously slashed the high school reading list, which is right where she left it. But there is also Mr. Hart, her former favorite teacher. The one who was fired after Gia publicly and painfully accused him of sexual misconduct. The one who prompted Gia to leave behind a very conflicted town the minute she turned eighteen. The one person she hoped never to see again.
When Margot leaves town without explanation, Gia sees the cracks in her sister’s “perfect” life for the first time and plans to offer support. But as the town, including members of the book club, takes sides between Gia and Mr. Hart, everything gets harder. Fortunately, she learns that there are people she can depend on. And by standing up for the truth, she finds love and a future in the town she thought had rejected her.
Brenda Novak’s latest women’s fiction, The Banned Books Club, is filled with healing and strengthening relationships.
When Gia returns home to help care for her mom, who is suffering from a terminal illness, her sister, Margot, sees an escape route for herself from her husband and her life. Margot still lives in the small town they grew up in, while Gia left many years ago to help let the town heal after a serious breach of trust against her that, to this day, many believe she was lying and guilty no matter what the judge ruled.
When Gia returns, wounds are opened, sides are taken, and fingers keep pointing at her while she tries to take the high road. There are many secrets throughout the story, with unexpected twists and turns. We see relationships being healed and others being tested or broken. Multiple stories are told, and we are often given teasers of what’s to come, and it’s not how things always panned out.
Gia finds an unexpected ally, much to the detriment of his family, and it turns into more. But given their distance to her home in Idaho and the business she’s a partner in, could it be more? She’s anti-men and love, for the most part, but would someday like to settle down and have a family. But in her present mindset, she wonders if that will ever happen.
There is some lightness to the story and some laughter, but those moments seem few and far between. There are lots of tears for various reasons and more violence and evil than I expected. This wasn’t a light-hearted read, and sometimes, the story was choppy. There is the possibility for several happily ever afters, but the story ended abruptly, and I didn’t get the closure I looked for.
The Banned Books Club is set in a small town where memories are long. Gia and Margot are trying to regain their power and self-respect, while others gossip and dredge up the past. 
New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak has written over 80 novels. An eight-time Rita nominee, she’s won The National Reader’s Choice, The Bookseller’s Best and other awards. She runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity that has raised more than $2.5 million for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). She considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life. www.brendanovak.com
