BOOK SPOTLIGHT: LYDIA’S PARTY by Margaret Hawkins

I am really excited about this book that showed up in my mailbox. For fans of Anne Tyler and Anna Quindlen, a mesmerizing portrait of friendship that explores seven women’s lives with a generous embrace and wondrous wisdom

Lydia is having a party—it’s a party she hosts every year for six women friends who treasure the midwinter bash. Over a table laden with a feast of food and wine, the women revel in sharing newsy updates, simmering secrets, and laughter. As this particular evening unfolds, Lydia prepares to make a shattering announcement.

As we follow these friends through their party preparations, we meet flawed but lovable characters who are navigating the hassles of daily chores while also meditating in stolen moments on their lives, their regrets, their complicated relationships, and their deepest desires. When Lydia’s announcement shocks them all, they rediscover the enduring bonds of friendship and find their lives changing in unexpected ways.

Tender, wryly funny, and exquisitely written, Lydia’s Party poignantly considers both the challenges of everyday life and of facing our fears while creating characters whose foibles and feistiness will capture readers’ hearts.


It is this kind of book: the kind one buys extra copies of to pass out to friends.” 
—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“Sumptuous . . . a repast that’s alternately uncomfortable and soothing, weepy and jubilant, evocative and realistic. . . . In a quirky, impossibly magical and sweetly charming twist, Lydia helps guide them all to forgiveness.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Lydia's Party is a brilliant story, so perfectly told, the characters instantly recognizable and unforgettable, that they will take up residence in one's heart.”
—Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Solomon's Oak, Finding Casey,
and Owen's Daughter

“Hawkins’s smart, crackling novel is a snowy, midwestern Mrs. Dalloway, with Elizabeth Berg-ish charm and Hawkins’s own edgy, artfully particularized humor. . . . As Lydia and her circle pull together in her time of need, Hawkins considers the profound gift of friendship and the ways art and life converge to forge meaning and preserve truth and memories.”

—Booklist

I can't wait to start reading LYDIA'S PARTY!

Buy your copy of LYDIA’S PARTY by Margaret Hawkins 

Barnes & Noble | Amazon

About the Author


Margaret Hawkins is a Senior Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of two previous novels, A Year of Cats and Dogs, and How to Survive a Natural Disaster, and a memoir about her sister, After Schizophrenia: The Story of My Sister’s Reawakening.

Follow Margaret!
Website