When Southlea Bay librarian Janet is instructed to attend a secret gathering at Doris’ house, she’s not sure what to expect. It turns out to be a group of women who read out their writings and gleefully collect rejection letters from publishers. But something disastrous has happened – their bossy-boots leader has only gone and got a book accepted by a publisher. And Doris is not happy! So with Janet heading to San Francisco to see her newly pregnant daughter, Stacy, she is corralled into driving the ladies of the Rejected Writers’ Book Club as well, on their mission to claim back Doris’ manuscript. It turns into a madcap road trip, with breakdowns – both of the mechanical and emotional kind; landslides and snowstorms; and new friends and loves. This is an amusing and charming read, although far less about rejected writers, than about a lively bunch of women of all ages. One thing that did jar for me though was, even though Stacy may have been self-centred, Janet’s lack of compassion for her daughter’s predicament didn’t gel with how she was with others.
