The Peculiar Gift of July
A Novel
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The Peculiar Gift of July
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Narrated by:
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Written by:
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Ashley Ream
About this listen
With a dash of magic and an ensemble 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.
What the critics say
"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
“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
“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