Lola's Secret
A Novel
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Praised as “Australia’s answer to Maeve Binchy, a modern-day Jane Austen” (The Sun Herald, Australia), Monica McInerney, internationally bestselling author of The Alphabet Sisters, returns with a poignant novel of love, loss, and the enduring strength of family ties.
Nestled in a picturesque corner of southern Australia, the Valley View Motel has been run by the Quinlans for years—and nobody adores the place more than Lola, the family’s lovable and mischievous Irish-born matriarch. So when she insists that her relatives spend their Christmas elsewhere, the close-knit bunch can’t help but be a bit curious. Lola has always had a knack for clever schemes; after all, she once slyly reunited her three feuding granddaughters, whom she nicknamed the Alphabet Sisters. And with the holiday season fast approaching, Lola decides it’s time to stir up some extra excitement.
Plotting in secret and online, Lola thinks it would be fun to invite a select group of strangers to stay at the motel for Christmas. Will these guests become friends, ignite sparks, fall in love? As she counts down the days until their arrival, Lola’s own family dramas threaten to upend her best-laid plans. Yet amid moments of humor, heartache, and unexpected twists of fate, Lola finds that she’s the one who’s in for the biggest surprise of all.
“[Monica] McInerney’s assured writing sparkles. . . . When you reach the end, [Lola’s Secret] will leave you feeling like you’ve been given a huge, warm hug.”—Hello! magazine
“A delicate treat . . . a lovely, gentle story of a family, a Christmas, love and different kinds of adventure.”—The Courier-Mail (Australia)
“Exploring universal family issues of loss, rivalry, aging and grief, [Lola’s Secret] is a warm, witty and moving novel.”—Woman’s Day (Australia)
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Australian author McInerney revisits the Quinlan family (first introduced in 2005's The Alphabet Sisters), this time focusing on the quirky matriarch: 84-year-old Lola. After ensuring that her son, Jim the proprietor of the South Australian motel that Lola calls home and his wife, Geraldine, go on a much needed vacation over Christmas, Lola secretly invites a disparate group of guests to stay at the motel free of charge. As the adventure approaches, readers learn that Lola is a favorite among friends and family, including her squabbling granddaughters Bett and Carrie, who prefer commiserating with their grandmother to confiding in Geraldine, a practice that triggers the latter's resentment. Lola also serves as referee and advice-giver at the thrift store where she works, whose "NASA control room" of computers she uses to keep in touch with great-granddaughter Ellen. Politics at the shop, family tensions, a rotating cast of characters, and the possibility of Lola locating her lost love keep this book jam-packed with plot lines, and though one gimmicky thread gets lost en route to the end, big personalities and believable conflicts keep the story engaging.
