Women's Fiction Month: The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman

Mark your calendar. It's the Christmas Cookie Club! Every year on the first Monday of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather in the evening with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone has to bring a dish, a bottle of wine, and their stories. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie's oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find out tonight how that story might end? Jeannie's father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal, and how can that be forgiven or forgotten, even among old friends such as these? Rosie's husband doesn't want children, and she has to decide, very soon, whether or not that's a deal breaker for the marriage. Taylor's life is in financial freefall. Each woman, each friend has a story to tell, and they are all interwoven, just as their lives are.

On this evening, at least, they can feel as a group the impulses of sisterly love and conflict, the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, the agony of losing a child, and above all, the love they have for one another. As Marnie says, the Christmas Cookie Club, if it's anything, is a reminder of delight.

The Christmas Cookie Club is about the paths Marnie and her friends have traveled, the absolute joy they take in life and love despite the decisions they've regretted, the hard choices and amends they've had to make, and the sacrifices along the way. Ultimately, The Christmas Cookie Club is every woman's story. As you read about Marnie and her friends, their struggles and triumphs, what makes them laugh and what has made them cry, you'll see yourself and some of the ingredients of your own story. Celebrating courage and joy in spite of hard times and honoring the importance of women's friendships as well as the embracing bonds of community, Ann Pearlman has written a novel that speaks to us all.

Read an excerpt at Amazon!

Read the reviews!

"This novel will satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth. Bonus: each chapter includes cookie recipes."

-USA Today

"Humorous and heartbreaking."

- Library Journal

"The story weaves compassion, friendship, hope and love throughout, bringing the reader into the folds of each woman's background story, as well as the importance of the annual cookie exchange they share together...The Christmas Cookie Club is a wonderful book that I recommend for anyone looking for a delightful, heartwarming and compassionate story of friendship and hope. Also the recipes and food facts add a great bonus!"

-Cafe of Dreams Book Review

PURCHASE THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CLUB AT AMAZON, BARNESANDNOBLE, AND INDIEBOUND.ORG!Ann Pearlman, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Nominee, is the author of Infidelity: A Memoir, Inside the Crips, The Christmas Cookie Club, The Christmas Cookie Cookbook, and A Gift For my Sister. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Visit Ann online at http://www.annpearlman.net/.