The Meryl Streep Movie Club

April 9, 2012
Art imitates art in March’s impossibly romantic debut about lost-and-found love and a frayed family repairing itself with the help of platitudes plucked from Streep’s prolific oeuvre. Streep’s films are as “good as a chicken soup, a best friend, a therapist, and a stiff drink,” Maine bed-and-breakfast owner Lolly Weller insists, regarding the regular viewings she holds at Maine’s quaint Three Captains’ Inn, where she raised daughter Kat, now 25, and nieces Isabel, 31, and June, 28 (the three trade narration duties), after a car crash on New Year’s Eve killed Lolly’s husband, sister, and brother-in-law. Fifteen years after the accident, Lolly summons the women to tell them she has cancer. By now, each is struggling with her own heartache: Isabel’s failed marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Edward; single mom June’s search for her son’s dad; and baking artisan Kat’s ambivalence about marrying her best friend, Oliver. Streep’s films have answers for all, including Lolly, who has a secret of her own to work out. There are no surprises, no problems too tough, nor men too insensitive, in this paean to Streep and happy endings. Consume with a bowl of popcorn and plenty of hankies. Agent: Alexis Hurly, Inkwell Management.

June 1, 2012
When Lolly Weller summons her daughter and nieces home to The Three Captains' Inn, her announcement that she has been diagnosed with cancer is just one of many life-changing secrets to be told. March's debut novel uses the films of Meryl Streep to illuminate these women's lives and to drive away the shadows that dim their happiness. After their mother and father die in a car crash, Isabel and June Nash are taken in by their Aunt Lolly, who lost her own husband in the same crash. Lolly's daughter, Kat, gains instant sisters, but grief tinges the familial bonds. Now grown up, gathered back under Lolly's roof, and drafted into Friday Movie Nights, these young women begin to reconsider the choices they have made--and the opportunities ahead. Like the heroine of Heartburn, Isabel is reeling from her husband's affair. Handsome veterinarian Griffin might know the sting of infidelity, as well, and Isabel is certainly drawn to him for more than their shared pain. Kat has been all but betrothed to Oliver since they were toddlers, but she's not sure if she is more ready to marry Oliver or to run off to a Paris patisserie. Defending Your Life makes her wonder if the real shame is in missing the opportunities life offers. Perhaps the exotic Dr. Matteo Viola is such an opportunity. Like the daughter in Streep's Mama Mia!, June's son, Charlie, has never known his real father. To help Charlie finish his family tree project, June agrees to once more search for John Smith, but maybe Henry Books is a truer father for Charlie. And she can't deny her own attraction to him for much longer. But which movie mirrors Lolly's past? What secret does she hide still? And why has she watched Out of Africa only once in her life? A heartwarming, spirit-lifting read just in time for beach season.

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June 1, 2012
Sisters June and Isabel and their cousin, Kat, were raised by Kat's mother, Lolly, after the rest of their family was lost in an accident. The three didn't always get along and have been estranged for 10 years, ever since their high-school days, but when they learn that Lolly has been diagnosed with cancer, they return to the bed-and-breakfast where they were raised to run the inn and take care of the woman who was always there for them. Each is at a crossroads in her own life, too, and through their time together, especially in discussions after Friday-night showings of Meryl Streep movies at the inn, they begin to find comfort and encouragement in the story lines and in each other. March's first novel is a touching story of self-discovery and the strength of family. Some unrealistic situations and stilted conversations make it tedious at times, especially regarding movie synopses and analyses, but likable characters and a happy ending will appeal to those who are looking for a light, uplifting read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)