Michelle Huneven's Books

Round Rock

By: Michelle Huneven

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In a small town among the citrus groves in the Santa Bernita Valley, so the locals claim, nothing ever goes according to plan. "It's a great place to live, they say, if you like surprises: it's just like life, only different." Certainly a number of Rito's inhabitants--fewer than a hundred in all--are surprised to be living here. Red Ray, for instance, a wildly alcoholic lawyer who bought a dilapidated Victorian mansion in an attempt to rehabilitate his marriage and regain the affections of his wife and young son. After destroying those hopes with a spectacular final binge, Red established a drunk farm, Round Rock, on the ruins. There, one day at a time, he follows his new, unexpected calling. Many months after her husband decamped (almost immediately) for Los Angeles, Libby Daw still lives alone in their trailer, and finds herself even more rooted to the valley she dreams of escaping. And there's Lewis Fletcher, a sometime graduate student whose keen intelligence is sorely tested by his erratic behavior and current predicament. Without exactly knowing why, and entirely against his wishes--or by default and sheer good luck--he finds himself placed in Ray's care at Round Rock. As these people seek out or maintain their various niches in the valley, the peculiar history of the place asserts itself. An heiress descended from the original settlers, Billie Fitzgerald still acts as though she owns it all; devoted to her father and son, she obscures her mercurial emotions from even her closest friends. The past also returns with David Ibañez, whose family had harvested the groves for generations--and whose talents and secrets (and thus, he discovers, his future) are inextricably bound to the complex, close-knit town he thought he had left behind. With insight matched with artistry, Michelle Huneven traces the emerging destinies of these characters as each of them struggles for peace and equilibrium, even happiness and love, against hapless, all-too-human frailty and circumstance. A vivid evocation of landscape and community, Round Rock derives great power from psychological subtlety, and from affection for and profound understanding of lives strained or broken but on the mend. Fresh, remarkably mature, and constantly surprising, this astonishing debut wins both your trust and your heart.

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Page Count

305

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307787974

ISBN 13

9780307787972

Blame

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

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Blame

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE CHICAGO TRIBUNE FAVORITE FICTION OF THE YEAR O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE TEN TERRIFIC READS OF THE YEAR A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A KANSAS CITY STAR 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Patsy MacLemoore, a twenty-eight-year-old history professor with a brand-new Ph.D. and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—yet again—after another epic alcoholic blackout. This time, though, a mother and daughter are dead, run over in Patsy's driveway. Patsy will the next decades of her life atoning for this unpardonable act. She goes to prison, sobers up, marries a much older man she meets in AA, and makes ongoing amends to her victims' family. Then, another piece of news turns up, casting her crime, and her life, in a different and unexpected light. Brilliant, morally complex, and often funny, Blame is a breathtaking story of contrition and what it takes to rebuild a life from the bottom up.

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Page Count

304

Publisher

Picador

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312429851

ISBN 13

9780312429850

Off Course

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

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Off Course

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

When a PhD student ventures to a mountain cabin to finish her dissertation, the hothouse community subsumes her in a series of ill-advised relationships"--

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Page Count

305

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0374224471

ISBN 13

9780374224479

Jamesland

By: Michelle Huneven

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Jamesland

By: Michelle Huneven

Jamesland, the buoyant second novel by Michelle Huneven, critically acclaimed author of Round Rock, is a witty, sophisticated, and deeply humane comedy of unlikely redemption. When thirty-three-year-old Alice Black discovers a deer in her dining room after fighting with her boyfriend, she wonders if she’s going crazy. Pete Ross, forty-six, knows he’s crazy. He’s wrecked his marriage, slashed his wrists, and done time in a psychiatric institution, and now he's being cared for by his mother, who’s a nun. Forty-five-year-old Helen Harland, a spirited Unitarian Universalist minister, is being driven crazy by her hostile church administration. Living in Los Feliz, California, the three meet at Helen’s Wednesday midweek services. Though initially incompatible, the sheer force of Helen’s idiosyncratic ministering (her “variety show of religious experience”)–paired with Alice’s illustrious ancestor William James–proves to be a catalyst for friendship and a kind of transcendence. Generous and compassionate, Michelle Huneven delivers a joyful new novel about love, faith, and a few wayward souls waiting for life to begin.

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Page Count

402

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307426459

ISBN 13

9780307426451

The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

Six Modern Women Discover the Ancient Art of Finding, Owning, and Making a Home

By: Michelle Huneven,Bernadette Murphy

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The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

Six Modern Women Discover the Ancient Art of Finding, Owning, and Making a Home

By: Michelle Huneven,Bernadette Murphy

Once a week, six women living in Los Angeles meet to read from the Tao te Ching and reflect on their lives. One subject arises over and over: the dream of owning a home. One by one they take on the real estate market. They discover, among themselves, great reservoirs of expertise and experience that keep them sane-and laughing-along the way. Now, the Tao Girls want to share that expertise and experience with women who find themselves similarly confused, frustrated, or disappointed. The Tao Girl's Guide to Real Estate offers a way to keep your head through it all, to eliminate that sense of helplessness, overwhelming tension, and emotional fatigue so often a part of finding a home. In telling their lively and often amusing personal stories, the Tao Girls also deliver a terrific dose of practical advice for buying any house-from the smallest condo to a suburban family dream house.

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Page Count

306

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1596919566

ISBN 13

9781596919563

Round Rock

By: Michelle Huneven

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Round Rock

By: Michelle Huneven

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305

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Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0679776168

ISBN 13

9780679776161

Search

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

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Search

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

“Delectable. . . Huneven treats us to a savory plot that blends spiritual yearnings with earthly pleasures. Forks out!”—Oprah Daily * An NPR Best Book of 2022 From critically acclaimed, award-winning author Michelle Huneven, a sharp and funny novel of a congregational search committee, told as a memoir with recipes Dana Potowski is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation in Southern California. Just as she’s finishing the book tour for her latest bestseller, Dana is asked to join the church search committee for a new minister. Under pressure to find her next book idea, she agrees, and resolves to secretly pen a memoir, with recipes, about the experience. That memoir, Search, follows the travails of the committee and their candidates—and becomes its own media sensation. Dana had good material to work with: the committee is a wide-ranging mix of Unitarian Universalist congregants, and their candidates range from a baker and microbrew master/pastor to a reverend who identifies as both a witch and an environmental warrior. Ultimately, the committee faces a stark choice between two very different paths forward for the congregation. Although she may have been ambivalent about joining the committee, Dana finds that she cares deeply about the fate of this institution and she will fight the entire committee, if necessary, to win the day for her side. This wry and wise tale will speak to anyone who has ever gone searching, and James Beard Award–winning author Michelle Huneven’s food writing and recipes add flavor to the delightful journey.

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Page Count

401

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

0593300068

ISBN 13

9780593300060

Blame

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

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Blame

A Novel

By: Michelle Huneven

Huneven's third book is a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.

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Page Count

317

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0374114307

ISBN 13

9780374114305

The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

Six Modern Women Discover the Ancient Art of Finding, Owning, and Making a Home

By: Michelle Huneven,Bernadette Murphy

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The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

Six Modern Women Discover the Ancient Art of Finding, Owning, and Making a Home

By: Michelle Huneven,Bernadette Murphy

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

306

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1596919566

ISBN 13

9781596919563

Book's by Michelle Huneven

Round Rock

Round Rock

Blame

Blame

Off Course

Off Course

Jamesland

Jamesland

The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

Round Rock

Round Rock

Search

Search

Blame

Blame

The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

The Tao Gals' Guide to Real Estate

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