The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman

Disclosure: I receive a free copy of this book to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

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Wow, my first book by Viola Shipman, and what a read it was. It pulled me and kept me reading from chapter one thru the end. 

Book Description

Elizabeth, Veronica, Rachel, and Emily met at Camp Birchwood as girls in 1985, where over four summers they were the Clover Girls--inseparable for those magical few weeks of freedom--until the last summer that pulled them apart. Now approaching middle age, the women are facing challenges they never imagined as teens, struggles with their marriages, their children, their careers, and wondering who it is they see when they look in the mirror.

Then Liz, V, and Rachel each receive a letter from Emily with devastating news. She implores the girls who were once her best friends to reunite at Camp Birchwood one last time, to spend a week together revisiting the dreams they’d put aside and repair the relationships they’d allowed to sour. But the women are not the same idealistic, confident girls who once ruled Camp Birchwood, and perhaps some friendships aren’t meant to last forever...

About Viola Shipman

VIOLA SHIPMAN is a pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction.

WADE ROUSE (Viola Shipman) is the internationally bestselling author of ten books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. The collection of Heirloom Novels have now sold over 1 million copies! 

Wade’s novels include The Charm Bracelet, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year; The Hope Chest; The Recipe Box; and the bestseller The Summer Cottage. NYT bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank says of Wade and his latest novel, The Heirloom Garden (April 28, 2020): “Every now and then a new voice in fiction arrives to completely charm, entertain and remind us what matters. Viola Shipman is that voice.” 

Library Journal writes that Wade has “hit upon the perfect formula to tell heartwarming, intergenerational family stories by weaving together the lives, loves and history of family through cherished heirlooms.” He recently signed a multi-book book deal with HarperCollins, which will continue the “Heirloom Series” of novels and also launch a series of Christmas novels. 

Wade's books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, and on Chelsea Lately, and have also been chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers. His novels have hit the bestseller lists in Germany (where he was #1 on the Spiegel Bestseller List), Italy, and Spain. 

His writing has appeared in a diverse range of publications and media, including Coastal Living, Time, All Things Considered, People, Good Housekeeping, Salon, Forbes, Taste of Home, Country Woman, Writer’s Digest, and Publisher’s Weekly.

My Thoughts

This book is about friendship and how it changes and survives the years.

Four girls meet at summer camp and become best friends. they are interpretable as kids. But as they grow life happens and with everything in life things change. Friendship changes.

When tragedy strikes the friends reunite at the camp where their friendship began 

This story was so emotional. I was laughing, crying, yelling, and sometimes all of it at once. The author had an amazing way of tory telling that draws you in. As you read you can begin to envision the sights, the smells and you begin to feel what the characters are feeling.

This story is all about friendship, heartbreak, misspoken words, selfishness and so many other things we all go through as we grow and learn who we are. It's about friendship, love, forgiveness, and learning to find your way back,

This book is one I highly recommend reading.