Join us LIVE with John Irving TONIGHT!
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—December 3, 2025
Tune LIVE in at 7pm ET for TONIGHT’s episode!
Join us Wednesday, December 3rd LIVE at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as the full F&F family gathers to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, the internationally renowned, award-winning, NYT-bestselling author John Irving, to discuss our December 2025 Pick of the Month, Queen Esther, which returns us after forty years to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award-winning film, The Cider House Rules.
John Irving is an icon of American letters and the acclaimed author of more than 20 books which have been translated into more than 35 languages. His works include the National Book Award winning cultural phenomenon The World According to Garp; The Cider House Rules, for which he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay; The Hotel New Hampshire, a bestseller which was made into a film starring Jodie Foster; and A Prayer for Owen Meany which is his all-time bestselling novel in every language. A former competitive wrestler and wrestling coach, he is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, John joins us from his home in Toronto to discuss Queen Esther which revisits the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther, a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism.
Watch the LIVE video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 12/3 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 12/5.
Order John’s book on Bookshop.org!
Shop all of our guests’ & hosts’ books in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org!
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Latest News from the Fab Four!
MARY KAY ANDREWS had a lovely Thanksgiving with family. Tried out a new mixed berry pie with streusel topping using the last of the frozen blueberries from our garden that was a big hit. Now she’s scurrying around getting ready to host her book club holiday party on Thursday. She’s speaking at the Columbus, Ga. public library next Monday, and would love to see lots of fans. Go here for details.
KRISTIN HARMEL began Thanksgiving Day with a 5K Turkey Trot, which made her feel justified in stuffing her face later on in the afternoon…. She loved spending the day with her husband Jason’s side of the family–and then she got to see her mom, her brother, her sister-in-law, and her niece the very next day. She hit the ground running with Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping–and made donations on Giving Tuesday to Susan G. Komen, the American Cancer Society, and Second Harvest Food Bank, and the Binc Foundation (helping booksellers with unforeseen emergency financial, medical, and mental health service needs), among others. Join us on the show tonight and tell us in the comments if you made a Giving Tuesday donation–and how you plan to celebrate the holidays this year!
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is so, so sad to be missing the LIVE show tonight! She is in NYC doing all the fun holiday things–and can’t wait to see Patti & Meg at Brisa Carleton’s book launch party! She is so excited for shopping, the 100th anniversary of the Rockettes, the NC Society of NYC party, and all the general merriment. Nothing gets her in the holiday spirit quite like New York! Speaking of holiday spirit… If you would like to order SUMMER STATE OF MIND for someone you love, Kristy will be happy to send an adorable card and signed book plate for you to put under the tree. For all the details, check out her blog post!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY spent her Thanksgiving holiday in South Carolina, hosting 16 family members! There was so much food and so much fun – games and all! She had the absolute best time and is still eating pumpkin pie for breakfast. (Check Patti’s Instagram to see what they did all weekend). Now she is home and finishing her 2027 novel and hopes to hit THE END before she leaves for New York City this weekend. Yes, NYC this weekend with her daughter-in-law Lizzie for shopping, the Rockefeller tree, and a Broadway play. She will report back on all of it including getting to see our beloved Kristy Woodson Harvey and Meg Walker at a book party for Brisa Carleton who we hosted on the web show & podcast a couple weeks ago.
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Upcoming Events
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristy’s upcoming events HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!
In Case You Missed It
On last week’s episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, we re-aired one of our favorite episodes from the vault in which Kristin Harmel & Patti Callahan Henry talked to #1 bestselling author Louise Penny about her Fall 2024 novel The Grey Wolf, the 19th installment in her wildly successful Armand Gamache mystery series.
You can WATCH that episode—now with a brand-new intro recorded by Patti—on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.
Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show
All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.
Already aired: LIVE! September Pick of the Month: Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham, The Academy
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Hank Phillippi Ryan, All This Could Be Yours
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Jane Hamilton, The Phoebe Variations
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Meagan Church, The Mad Wife
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Mitch Albom, Twice — October Pick of the Month!
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Joe Hill, King Sorrow
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Catherine Newman, Wreck
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: David Baldacci, Nash Falls — November Pick of the Month!
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Brisa Carleton, Last Call at the Savoy
WATCH now | LISTEN now
Already aired: Lee & Andrew Child, Exit Strategy
WATCH now | LISTEN now
John Irving, Queen Esther — December Pick of the Month!
WATCH LIVE! Dec 3 | LISTEN Dec 5
Ace Atkins, Everybody Wants To Rule the World
WATCH Dec 10 | LISTEN Dec 12
Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Birdwatcher
WATCH Dec 17 | LISTEN Dec 19
F&F 2026 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
The 2026 FRIENDS AND FICTION Subscription Box is available for purchase now, exclusively from our friends at Oxford Exchange.
This subscription includes three separate shipments:
1. MAY 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s forthcoming book SUMMER STATE OF MIND!
2. JUNE 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews!
3. AUGUST 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of MEET ME IN PARIS by Kristin Harmel!
Get your subscription NOW from Oxford Exchange!
F&F Merch Store
We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We also have other items like wine tumblers, reading journals, and our original white v-neck logo tees available through Oxford Exchange.
Tees in New Colors!
We’ve added two fun, new colors (hot pink & turquoise!) to our Bonfire merch store in our signature Name List apparel line!
F&F Official Book Club & 2025 Reading Challenge
Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Alisha Fernandez Miranda about her novel, Someone’s Gotta Give. Mark your calendars for December 15th for their next author guest, Jenny Colgan, when they’ll discuss her new novel, The Secret Christmas Library. The Book Club is also hosting the 2025 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. December prompt is to read a holiday book with an animal on the cover. Stay tuned for their reveal of the 2026 reading challenge prompts!
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Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.
Amazing writer!