The Peculiar Gift of July - by Ashley Ream (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Ebey's End is a quiet island town where grocer Anita Odom lives a routine, if sometimes lonely, life--until fourteen-year-old July, the orphaned daughter of a distant cousin, unexpectedly arrives. Anita feels completely unfit to take her in, but July brings an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what each customer needs, offering small gifts that spark big changes across the town. As lives shift and secrets surface, the people of Ebey's End must learn to open their hearts in unexpected ways"--

Book Synopsis

With a dash of magic and a cast of oddball, small-town characters, this feel-good novel explores forgiveness, family, and the sense of humor it takes to live with the ones we love the most.

Ebey's End is a small town on an island off the Pacific coast, reachable only by ferry (assuming the gods are with you and it's not a Tuesday). It's a comfortable, familiar (but okay, fine, sometimes lonely) life for its resident grocer Anita Odom. That is, until fourteen-year-old July shows up on her doorstep.

Taking in the recently orphaned daughter of an estranged cousin had not been on Anita's to-do list. In fact, it's a terrible idea. Anita is ill-suited, ill-prepared, and absolutely certain the entire enterprise will end in disaster--for both of them.

From the moment she arrives, July seems to "know" what each customer at the Island Grocery needs. They're small things: a housekeeping magazine slipped into old Mr. Daly's basket or a coconut cream pie pressed into the hands of Pastor Chet. But one by one, these gifts start to change the lives of nearly everyone in town in ways much larger than they--or July--could have imagined.

It's not long before secrets are exposed and questions emerge, and everyone in Ebey's End has to open their hearts a little wider to make room for it all.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Peculiar Gift of July
"An engaging family tale tinged with magical realism....poignant."--Library Journal (starred review)

"Each page is more charming than the last, and readers will face the dilemma of consuming this book as quickly as possible or limiting pages to slowly savor."--Booklist (starred review)

"Set on a quirky island in the Puget Sound where there's nowhere to go and the ferry service is erratic, The Peculiar Gift of July is an absolutely charming novel of families and small-town life, and how the simplest mysteries of our lives touch all those around us. Ashley Ream is a fabulous writer who turns a great phrase, amuses with clever humor, and adds just the right amount of sentimentality and emotion for a satisfying ending--book clubs will love this book!"--Garth Stein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

"Magnetic and heartfelt, The Peculiar Gift of July is a lush and atmospheric ode to the power of family and home that will leave you looking for the everyday magic in your own. A must read for the summer!"--Adrienne Young, New York Times bestselling author of A Sea of Unspoken Things

"Immersive, heartwarming, even a little bit magical, The Peculiar Gift of July juggles an enormous cast of characters in a perfectly-sketched small town on a chilly island in the Pacific Northwest so beautifully you feel like you're there. Ashley Ream offers peculiar -- and wonderful -- gifts indeed: the secrets harbored by close communities, the surprises in store even for people who already know everything about each other, the many forms families take, and the joys (and challenges) of neighbors who are there for one another, come what may."--Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

"The characters of this wonderfully engaging novel may inhabit an island, but their concerns are universal, and Ashley Ream finds dignity, humor, and more than a touch of magic on every page. A novel that is light on its feet, but deep in its heart."--Meg Howrey, author of They're Going to Love You

"Few writers balance vulnerability and wit like Ream, and in The Peculiar Gift of July, she does so with a storyteller's lightest touch...The setting may be fictional, but the emotional terrain of is rooted in real, lived feeling: grief, caregiving, community and the ways we find family in the most unexpected places...The book's magical realism is subtle, more sparkle than spectacle...It's also deeply funny. Ream has a sharp eye for the odd rhythms of community life...The shimmer is everywhere. It's in the scent of cardamom from the bakery. In the lonely ache of people trying to do right by each other. In the way a town, however eccentric, can knit itself back together around the edges of a heartbreak." --The Seattle Times

"Author Ream has a brisk, easygoing voice that's reminiscent of the way Garrison Keillor describes Lake Wobegon or how Stephen King brings life to his small towns of Maine (minus all the horror stuff). "The Peculiar Gift of July" is a charming tale and a great opportunity to spend some time in a far-flung corner of America." --Epoch Times

"A lovely story about family." --Daily Kos

"A well-rounded book, rich with real feelings and a lot of heart." --Chick Lit Central

About the Author

Ashley Ream is a former journalist and the author of two previous novels. Losing Clementine, was a Barnes & Noble debut pick, a Sutter Home Book Club pick, and is being made into a major motion picture. Her second book, The 100 Year Miracle, was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and selected as the Whidbey Island All-Island Read. Ashley lives with her daughter and husband on the edge of the big woods outside of Seattle.