MEET ABBOTT KAHLER TONIGHT!
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—JANUARY 24, 2024
Tune in TONIGHT to watch this week’s episode!
Join us Wednesday, January 24th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel with hosts Patti Callahan Henry and Kristin Harmel as they welcome this week’s guest, New York Times bestselling author Abbott Kahler, to hear all about her newly released fiction debut, WHERE YOU END, which was inspired by a true story of identical twins and amnesia.
Once named “a pioneer of sizzle history” by USA Today, Abbott Kahler is the author of four New York Times bestselling works of narrative nonfiction under the name Karen Abbott, including The Ghosts of Eden Park and Liar Temptress Soldier Spy. A prolific writer and media guest, her books have been optioned for television and film, and been featured as Indie Next picks, as Amazon’s and Library Journal’s best books of the year, and as Smithsonian Magazine’s best history books of the year. Tune in to hear about Abbott’s leap to writing fiction, her real-life inspiration for this novel, her research, her writing process, and more.
Watch the video broadcast of this interview Wed 1/24 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast this Fri 1/26.
Buy Abbott’s book on Bookshop.org!
Shop all of our guests’ & hosts’ books in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org!
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for a detailed Q&A with Abbott which includes lots of stuff not covered on the show such as a writing tip, book recommendations, details on her work-in-progress, misconceptions about her work, favorite indie bookstores, and more!
Latest News from the Fab Four!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY LOVED talking to Abbott Kahler for this week’s edition of The Friends & Fiction Show – she’s a true finder of lost historical mysteries. Patti also had an incredible weekend hosting an engagement party for her son, Thomas. To see him so loved and surrounded by absolute support had her mother’s heart on fire. She is working away on edits for 2025 (she can NOT wait to tell you about this book!) and playing with a new idea. This has been a lovely week even with a low of 11 degrees in Alabama.
What Patti is reading and why she’s loving it: Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle. Rebecca always knows how to hit that chord with – I wonder what would happen if – and this time it’s even better with a woman who gets “expiration dates” for each date she goes on. One month. Six days. Four weeks. But what happens when the paper is blank? What does it mean?
MARY KAY ANDREWS is doing a deep dive on her Irish ancestry in preparation for her next novel, and starting to plan the book tour for Summers At The Saint (out May 7!)
What MKA is reading and why she’s loving it: Simply The Best is the latest in Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series and stars a take-no-prisoners sports agent and a down-on-her luck chocolatier. This is SEP at her kookiest!
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is having a great start to 2024 and has had the best time sharing her writing tips over in her newsletter and on her blog, www.kristywoodsonharvey.com/blog. If you’re writing this year, check it out! She’s in full-on editing mode for her 2025 book and getting SO excited for A HAPPIER LIFE, coming June 25. She’ll be announcing tour dates soon, so stay tuned!
What Kristy is reading and why she’s loving it: Blank by Zibby Owens. I’m loving reading about the writing and publishing world. Who knows more about that world than she does?
KRISTIN HARMEL spent most of the weekend either in front of her computer (working on her 2025 novel, due soon) or in front of the fireplace (Orlando got down to the 30s over the weekend, which is quite cold for Central Florida!), with brief breaks to go wine-tasting, and to take son Noah to Dave & Buster’s for a bit of video game fun. Kristin had the magic touch on the claw machine this weekend and won Noah four stuffed animals, which she’s inordinately proud of.
What Kristin is reading and why she’s loving it: I’m just finishing up a book I started before the holidays on audio. I didn’t have any long solo drives over the winter break, so I put it aside until I had more time in the car to listen, and I’m so glad to be back in this world. The book is Kantika by Elizabeth Graver, and the story—a multigenerational fictionalization of Graver’s own grandmother’s early life, spanning from Istanbul to Barcelona to New York—is gorgeous. It means even more to me because my friend Jonathan is a relative of Graver’s, so this is the story of his family, too. I’m on the final chapter, and I don’t want it to end.
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!
In Case You Missed It
Last week on The Friends & Fiction Show, all four F&F hosts—Patti Callahan Henry, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel & Kristy Woodson Harvey—interviewed our Featured Guest for January, mega-bestselling rockstar author Kristin Hannah, to discuss our F&F Pick of the Month, THE WOMEN, her forthcoming epic saga of female nurses during the Vietnam War and its aftermath. This was the 200th episode of our Wed night web show and was complete with champagne toast and appearances by one of our original co-founders Mary Alice Monroe, plus podcast host Ron Block and managing director Meg Walker! Tune in and celebrate with us! Meanwhile, pre-order THE WOMEN (out Feb 6) from the F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where you’ll also find books by all our hosts and guests, all at a discount, all while supporting our show and our beloved indie bookstores nationwide!
You can WATCH that episode 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: 2024 Sneak Preview with the Fab Four
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: Grady Hendrix, How to Sell a Haunted House
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: F&F January Pick of the Month: Kristin Hannah, The Women
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Abbott Kahler, Where You End
Watch: Jan 24 | Listen: Jan 26
Jennifer Moorman, The Magic All Around
Watch: Jan 31 | Listen: Feb 2
Amy Jo Burns, Mercury
Watch: Feb 7 | Listen: Feb 9
Kate Quinn & Janie Chang, The Phoenix Crown
Watch: Feb 14 | Listen: Feb 16
F&F February Pick of the Month: Tia Williams, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
Watch LIVE: Feb 21 | Listen: Feb 23
Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars
Watch: Feb 28 | Listen: Mar 1
Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates
Watch: Mar 6 | Listen: Mar 8
F&F March Pick of the Month: Chris Bohjalian, The Princess of Las Vegas
Watch LIVE: Mar 13 | Listen: Mar 15
Anna Quindlen, After Annie
Watch: Mar 20 | Listen: Mar 22
Allison Pataki, Finding Margaret Fuller
Watch: Mar 27 | Listen: Mar 29
Bonus Episodes!
The Fab Four are taking turns interviewing some additional authors in short 10-minute video segments we are calling “Behind the Book.” Check out a few recent bonus interviews that our host authors have run on the F&F YouTube channel!
Rachel Linden, author of Recipe for a Charmed Life, interviewed by Patti & Kristy.
Watch HERE.
Jeffrey Blount, author of Mr. Jimmy from Around the Way, interviewed by Kristy & Kristin.
Watch HERE.
Author Kristina McMorris & illustrator Amanda Yoshida discuss their new children’s book, Ellie Mae Dreams Big!, with Kristin & Kristy.
Watch HERE.
F&F Merch Store & 2024 Subscription Box
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. You can also order the F&F 2024 SUBSCRIPTION BOX through our friends at Oxford Exchange. All details HERE!
F&F Official Book Club & 2024 Reading Challenge
Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison on Monday, February 19th at 7pm ET on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa as they welcome author Virginia Kantra to discuss their February pick, The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale. 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 writing duo Christine Platt & Catherine Wiggington Greene about their book, Rebecca, Not Becky. With the help of Annissa Armstrong, the Book Club is also hosting the 2024 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The January challenge is to read a book published in your birth year, and February is to read a debut novel by an author of color.
Stay in Touch!
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Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
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Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests!