Friday Freebie: Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt and The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan

Congratulations to Tisa Houck, winner of last week's Friday Freebie "Mega-Scary-Good Joe Hill Prize  Pack" which included all of Hill's published fiction: NOS4A2, Horns, Heart-Shaped Box and 20th Century Ghosts.

This week's book giveaway is another multi-book bundle.  I'm very excited to offer up copies of two new novels: Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt and The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan.  One lucky reader will win both books.

Is This Tomorrow is Caroline Leavitt's tenth novel, following on the heels of her previous bestseller, Pictures of You.  As with all of her novels, the nuts and bolts of the plot are wrenched tight and the characters are deep and fascinating.  Here's a plot synopsis of Is This Tomorrow: In 1956, Ava Lark rents a house with her twelve-year-old son, Lewis, in a desirable Boston suburb.  Ava is beautiful, divorced, Jewish, and a working mom.  She finds her neighbors less than welcoming.  Lewis yearns for his absent father, befriending the only other fatherless kids: Jimmy and Rose.  One afternoon, Jimmy goes missing.  The neighborhood—in the throes of Cold War paranoia—seizes the opportunity to further ostracize Ava and her son.  Years later, when Lewis and Rose reunite to untangle the final pieces of the tragic puzzle, they must decide: Should you tell the truth even if it hurts those you love, or should some secrets remain buried?  Novelist Stewart O'Nan praised Is This Tomorrow by saying, "From the lockstep '50s into the do-your-own-thing '60s, Caroline Leavitt follows her cast of lonely characters as they grapple with the sorrowful mystery of a missing child.  'Are any of our children safe?' one asks, and of course the answer is no, no one is.  Like Mona Simpson's Off Keck Road, Is This Tomorrow is an intimate meditation on time, loss and destiny." For more about the book, check out the April edition of Front Porch Books here at The Quivering Pen.

In Amy Sue Nathan's debut novel, Evie and Nicole share a last name: Glass.  They also shared a husband.  Here's the plot synopsis of The Glass Wives: When a tragic car accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it also upends the lives of Evie and Nicole, and their children.  There’s no love lost between the widow and the ex.  In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in all this heartache—the chance to rid herself of Nicole once and for all.  But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother, and she wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed.  Strapped for cash, Evie cautiously agrees to share living expenses—and her home—with Nicole and the baby.  But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie must decide who she can trust.  More than that, she must ask: what makes a family?  Since its publication, The Glass Wives has been racking up the praise.  Booklist declared: "Jodi Picoult fans will appreciate the surprising twists embedded in this thought-provoking narrative."  Julie Kibler (author of Calling Me Home) said: "In The Glass Wives, Amy Sue Nathan examines what it means to build an unconventional family when the original families shatter suddenly and irreparably into pieces.  Nathan's adept writing, wry humor, and authentic emotion carried me effortlessly from the beginning of this tender and hopeful debut novel to its satisfying end."

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy of both Is This Tomorrow and The Glass Wives, all you have to do is email your name and mailing address to thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line.  One entry per person, please.  Despite its name, the Friday Freebie runs all week long and remains open to entries until midnight on June 6, at which time I'll draw the winning name.  I'll announce the lucky reader on June 7.  If you'd like to join the mailing list for the once-a-week newsletter, simply add the words "Sign me up for the newsletter" in the body of your email.  Your email address and other personal information will never be sold or given to a third party (except in those instances where the publisher requires a mailing address for sending Friday Freebie winners copies of the book).

Want to double your odds of winning?  Get an extra entry in the contest by posting a link to this webpage on your blog, your Facebook wall or by tweeting it on Twitter.  Once you've done any of those things, send me an additional e-mail saying "I've shared" and I'll put your name in the hat twice.