Most authors have themes they tend to revisit across books. Personally, I find myself returning over and over to questions of identity and secrecy — my protagonists all seem to undergo name changes at some point in their stories as they change or conceal their identities. It’s just something I keep coming back to, and I’m always exploring it in different ways.

Lynda Cohen Loigman’s novels — THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE and THE WARTIME SISTERS — both explore what it means to be part of a family, so it made total sense to me when I saw that her recommendation for #read99women has a lot to do with that same theme.

First, Lynda’s bio: Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, MA. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Her debut novel, THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE, was a USA Today bestseller and a nominee for the Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards in Historical Fiction. Her second novel, THE WARTIME SISTERS, was selected as a Woman's World Book Club pick and a Best Book of 2019 by Real Simple Magazine. She is currently at work on her third novel.

Her recommendation is THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA by Juliet Grames, an epic debut novel that follows one woman’s life, and the lives of her loved ones, over decades and generations.

Lynda says, “There is nothing I love more than a family story. In THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA, Juliet Grames has gifted readers with a richly layered and multi-generational saga that follows its characters from Calabria to Connecticut in order to trace the mysteries of Stella Fortuna's astonishing life…. No matter your background, you will recognize fragments of your own family dynamics in the pages of this novel - the struggles, the joys, and the long-held secrets that shape our memories and the stories we choose to tell.”

Read Lynda’s full review of THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA on BookBub by clicking here.

And for more on Lynda’s books and other recommendations, click here to follow her on BookBub.