Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Rejected Writers' Book Club
    The Rejected Writers' Book Club
    The Rejected Writers' Book Club
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Rejected Writers' Book Club

    Written by Suzanne Kelman

    Narrated by Tanya Eby

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Librarian Janet Johnson is puzzled when she is invited—and practically dragged—to her first meeting of the Rejected Writers’ Book Club. This quirky group of women would much rather celebrate one another’s rejected manuscripts over cups of tea and slices of lemon cake than actually publish a book. But good friends are exactly what Janet needs after moving to the small town of Southlea Bay, Washington. Just as the ladies are about to raise a teacup to their five hundredth rejection letter, they receive bad news that could destroy one member’s reputation—and disband the group forever. To save the club, Janet joins her fellow writers on a wild road trip to San Francisco in search of the local publisher who holds the key to a long-buried secret. As they race to the finish line, they’ll face their fears—landslides, haunted houses, handsome strangers, ungrateful children—and have the time of their lives.

    Revised edition: This edition of The Rejected Writers' Book Club includes editorial revisions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 29, 2016
    ISBN9781511368421
    The Rejected Writers' Book Club
    Author

    Suzanne Kelman

    Suzanne Kelman is the author of the Southlea Bay series and an award-winning screenwriter. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, she now lives in Washington in her own version of Southlea Bay with her husband, Matthew; her son, Christopher; and a menagerie of rescued animals. She enjoys tap dancing, theater, and high teas, and she can sing the first verse of “Puff, the Magic Dragon” backward.

    Related to The Rejected Writers' Book Club

    Titles in the series (2)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      HOW I WRITE Lucinda Riley

      Jun 17, 2019

      Irish-born Lucinda Riley is the bestselling author of over 20 novels. Her Seven Sisters series has topped the charts the world over, and has been optioned for a TV show. I have to write my first draft in total solitude. As we have four kids and our

      1 min read

    • Article

      Summer Thrills

      Aug 5, 2019

      Summer Thrills
      3 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Jun 16, 2023

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      TV Pieces Of Her

      Mar 24, 2022

      TV Pieces Of Her
      1 min read

    • Article

      Planof Action

      Oct 5, 2021

      Planof Action
      6 min read

    • Article

      On The Rocks

      Oct 8, 2021

      On The Rocks
      10 min read

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jan 1, 2021

      Light delimits the darkness as snowgives shape to the silence of winter trees.Above a rooftop, the shadow of illness hoversindistinguishable from the wraithsof common chimney smoke.Strip skin from flesh, flesh from boneto behold the comical, adumbrat

      4 min read

    • Article

      We All Live in Uncertain

      Jul 30, 2020

      “Think of Caddo as a maze of lakes within lakes,” says John Winn, proprietor of Caddo Outback Tours, as the two of us settle into a small Go-Devil boat roped to a dock in Uncertain, on the border of northern Louisiana. For two decades, Winn has given

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Eternal Adventure

      Jun 29, 2021

      The Eternal Adventure
      4 min read

    • Article

      Birds

      May 26, 2023

      Birds
      2 min read

    • Article

      When Life Bites

      Sep 14, 2020

      When Life Bites
      6 min read

    • Article

      Unreality Television

      May 27, 2020

      Unreality Television
      4 min read

    • Article

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS

      Jan 5, 2023

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS
      8 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Jul 1, 2023

      Jester-necked pile of ideasfattening by the cutting board.I have known the summer wall,it says slowly. The hillside facessouth into the valley.Dew on the tomato plants.Anything that grows, swarms,bunches itself against a stayand cannot stay. The vine

      4 min read

    • Article

      All I Want For Christmas

      Dec 16, 2020

      IT was more than an icicle. More like an icy boulder, oversized and murkily white, faceted like a cartoon jewel and, shortly, dripping. It had lurked beneath a low stone bridge at the bottom of the wood, where sycamore thickets bald for winter gave w

      18 min read

    • Article

      My Dinner with Denis Johnson

      Jun 25, 2018

      My Dinner with Denis Johnson
      13 min read

    • Article

      Country Calendars

      Jan 15, 2024

      The barbarian was at the gate. Then he was in the house. I had been smugly congratulating myself on a most civilised Christmas Day here at Lush Places. The croquet hoops were set up on the lawn. Miles Davis was playing quietly on the outdoor speakers

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Garden In The Desert

      Sep 20, 2021

      A Garden In The Desert
      10 min read

    • Article

      Seven Poems

      May 1, 2023

      There was a boy even stranger than I waswho’d call me in the eveningto see if I’d come to Scouts. Something in mehesitated. Then one morning during eighth grade English we got hall passesand did it in a stall in the bathroomtaking turns over the john

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Rejected Writers' Book Club

    3.5/5

    42 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      This sounded like such a promising book.

      Unfortunately, Our Protagonist, Janet Johnson, a librarian in Southlea Bay, Oregon, where she and her husband have lived for the last five years, is just a bit hard for me to like. It has not yet occurred to her that, really, she's a bit of a snob. Even at the end, when she has discovered the true grit and assorted other positive qualities of the ladies of the Rejected Writers' Book Club, she seems more mildly annoyed than anything else that these have become her local circle for friends.

      Let's note in passing that after five years, these are the first friends she's made on the island.

      The Rejected Writers enjoy writing, and they have been unable to produce anything publishable. Having concluded that they never really will, they've made a virtue of necessity. They collect rejection letters, and put some money into a pot, for a celebration that they'll hold when they have five hundred total rejection letters. This might seem just silly, but they're enjoying their hobby. Sadly, when Janet is first pulled into their circle, what she sees is a collection of the ridiculous--a fat woman, a stick-like woman, a waif-like innocent, a church lady, and an aging hippy, among others. She can see no redeeming features even though Doris, the fat one, quickly demonstrates that she's a truly fantastic cook.

      Janet, I'm sad to say, is the one that, when her daughter calls, clearly very upset, to tell her that no, she is not all right and that she is pregnant, says, "Congratulations!" The call is interrupted by daughter Stacy vomiting, and when conversation resumes, Janet tells her congratulations again, and gets off the phone fairly quickly.

      I wanted to smack her but good.

      Anyway, the plot, and yes, there is one: The ladies are collecting rejection letters, but one of them, Doris, has received an acceptance letter. By the rules of the club, this should mean she's out. Even worse, she borrowed part of that story from some old notebooks her aunt left in the attic of the house where Doris and her mother still live. Doris had assumed that what she borrowed was fictional, but it turns out to be at least partly based on an episode in her mother's life, and if it's real, it's quite scandalous. As much as Doris didn't want her manuscript accepted for publication anyway, it's even worse if its publication is going to embarrass and distress her mother. The ladies, including Doris, want Janet's help in actually reaching the editor who has accepted her book, who is not responding to attempts to contact him. He's based in San Francisco, where Janet's daughter lives, and Janet, who doesn't fly, has with some effort been prevailed upon to drive down there to stay with her daughter while Stacy's husband is away for two weeks on business.

      There is much silly and entertaining activity on the road trip, and much excitement, and of course things get even stranger when they reach San Francisco.

      I don't really know what to say. I think we are supposed to like Janet, and it is true that she's not truly an awful person; just a bit snobby, particular, and rigid.

      I didn't stop listening, and I certainly could have. Even through Janet's eyes, the Rejected Writers can be seen to be an interesting group of ladies, with bigger hearts than is at first apparent.

      Yet I really can't see myself reading another in the series. Glancing at other reviews, I can see that I'm clearly an unreasonable curmudgeon, but there it is. Not charmed at all, even though I wanted to be.

      Not recommended.

      I bought this audiobook.
    • 5/5
      situational-humor, verbal-humor, bad-puns, family-dynamics, friendship, women-s-fiction, whispersyncThis is the very book you need on a bad day or after a really lousy shift! The characters certainly are and the interactions will have you laughing in spite of yourself. The publisher's blurb gives hints but doesn't begin to prepare you for all of the fun! I'm so glad that I picked up the Whispersync so I could listen to the marvelous narrator while I was stuck with some odious tasks. And to top it off, it was on sale!
    • 3/5
      The Yaya Sisterhood of rejected writers, this book was endearing. Janet is unwillingly dragged into a group of ladies that have formed a bond on being rejected. She is coerced into helping these ladies with an event to celebrate rejection, which is far from what she wants to do but everything she doesn't know she needs from the sleepy town of Southlea Bay.

      The Rejected Writers' Book Club
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this. As an author, a lot of what the story was about held an immense fascination for me. Great storyline, entertaining characters.
    • 3/5
      I think a lot of people can resonate well with the fear of rejection whether it's the rejection of a novel, an audition, or an invention. But the author's approach is quite humorous. Instead of stewing over it, celebrate it! Start a rejection club! Target goal: 500 rejection letters! And well, you get the point.

      The story is crazy, wacky, insane, and yet you still find reasons to like it.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would love to continue reading the series. I grew to appreciate and like each character, in their own quirky ways. This is my first book by Suzanne Kelman, but certainly will not be my last. I have a sneaking suspicion the librarian and her newly acquired "reject" friends have a lot more adventures in store.
    • 5/5
      Why did I pick this book? I loved the cover with the decorative teacups stacked on the cover, then I noticed the title! What kind of club is for those who have been rejected. The teacups made me think of fancy teacup prizes in my mother’s bridge club. With those two magnets, I had to read this book and I was not disappointed in the least! Janet Johnson, a librarian who had just moved to the small town of Southlea Bay on an island which is part of Washington. The club celebrates their rejection letters from publishers and they even compete for the worst writing. But something unthinkable happens, the leader of the club gets an acceptance letter. That will not do at all, that would break up the club, plus there is a secret reason that Doris does not want to have the book published. Janet Johnson in a way get hijacked into the mission to prevent the publication and to obtain a magnificent rejection letter. Janet also has a daughter who is expecting and just happens to be in the same area where the ladies want to go. This is also a very special group of quirky ladies with Doris as their determined leader. Janet has the car and is going to see her daughter who needs rest and someone to watch over her. So Doris decides on a road trip for all of them. This book is so funny that I was in hysterics last night. I was laughing so hard that my husband actually got worried about me! Suzanne Kelman’s directing skills come out with this book. I so wish that I was on the road trip with them. It was so easy to visualize this story. At this point, I would like read anything by her, maybe even her grocery list.I received an advanced copy of this book from the Publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review.