LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL comes out just four weeks from today!

Dear Friends,

You all know the famous saying: April flowers bring May…books. LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL comes out just four weeks from today. Please bear with me as I do a little bragging on behalf of my book. The reviews so far are glowing. Here’s a sampling:

"The love child of Dirty Dancing and Mrs. Maisel ... Incredible!" (Frolic)

“A high-spirited party of a book… The vanished history of the Catskills is evoked with love and plenty of schmaltz.” (Kirkus)

“Breezy and charming, this is great fun.” (Publisher’s Weekly)

“Written with Friedland’s signature wit and sharp dialogue…Readers will want to book their Catskill getaway immediately.” (Booklist)

You can pre-order the book with any of these links. Send me proof of order and I’ll send you a GOLDEN HOTEL eye mask.

Apple Books

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Books-a-Million

I’m also excited to share this gorgeous illustration of the Weingold and Goldman families. They are exactly as I imagined them.

Besides shameless self-promotion, see below for what else I’ve been up to.

xo,

What to Watch

Murder on Middle Beach (HBO Max)

By now you’ve probably realized I love a good murder. There’s nothing I enjoy more than falling asleep to the gory details of a true crime, and Murder on Middle Beach did not disappoint. A mom is killed in her driveway. The ex-husband is the prime suspect, but could it have been the wife’s involvement in a pyramid scheme instead that got her killed? I’ll never tell…

What to Read

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday. A young woman in publishing has an affair with a faintly disguised Philip Roth in Part I. An Iraqi immigrant shares his family’s history while being detained at Heathrow in Part II. Part III ties these two stories together in an inventive way. As a teacher of contemporary fiction writing, I whole-heartedly recommend this book.

What to Listen To

The Happiness Lab with Professor Laurie Santos. Did you know you should talk to strangers? And that using an ATM can make you feel sad? Neither did I, until I started listening to this podcast. Counter-intuitive at some turns, affirming of my instincts at others, this podcast is a great guide for identifying simple strategies to be happier.

What to Win

My best giveaway ever. Host a Zoom book club with yours truly. One winner will receive ten signed copies of LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL (click here for the Book Club Guide) plus one copy each of these spring books: The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff and Blush by Jamie Brenner.