Join us LIVE with Audrey Niffenegger TONIGHT

Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—October 21, 2026

Tune in LIVE at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!

Join us on Wednesday, October 21st LIVE at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Kristin, Patti & MKA welcome the multi-million copy bestselling author of The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger to discuss our October 2026 Pick of the Month, Life Out of Order, her exhilarating new speculative story set in a dystopian future where virtual reality and real life converge.

Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and writer whose book art, prints, and paintings are included in the collections of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Newberry Library, and the Library of Congress. A former Professor at Columbia College, she helped found their Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, and also founded Artists Book House, a non-profit center for the literary and book arts. She has published eight books, including the novels The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, as well as the graphic novels Raven Girl and The Night Bookmobile. A modern classic that has captivated readers worldwide, The Time Traveler’s Wife has been adapted into a film, an HBO series, and a West End stage musical. We are eager to talk to her about Life Out of Order, an epic genre-bending tale told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, that moves through a boundless, unfolding universe of virtual reality, and skims the wildest reaches of technology and the natural world.

Watch the LIVE video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 10/21 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 10/23.

Meanwhile, order Audrey’s book — along with all our guests’ and hosts’ books — at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where your purchases support our show and indie bookstores nationwide!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!

Subscribe now

Latest News from the Fab Four!

KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is on her last full week of the Falling for Peachtree Bluff tour! She had a great time at the Southern Festival of Books with friends like Christina Baker Kline! Then she got to see our darling Ron Block at his Cuyahoga County library. Then she had a great time with readers in Nashville, Indiana at Naughty Dog Books. She is so looking forward to the next two days in Carmel, Indiana. Just because this is the last full week, doesn’t mean the tour is over… Don’t forget to check out her full tour dates on her website to see if she’s still coming to a city near you! She can’t thank you enough for all of your support and hopes this autumn finds you Falling for Peachtree Bluff!

PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY had a great few incredible days introducing Christina Baker Kline to Alabama and Auburn and then a really fun long weekend in Arizona with friends and then onto Pennsylvania for more fun with friends! She is so happy to be back at home for this week’s show with Audrey Niffenegger.

MARY KAY ANDREWS enjoyed a fabulous ten-day cruise to Italy, Montenegro, and Croatia with her husband as an early anniversary celebration. She’s home and gradually getting over terminal jet-lag. Back to working on her next novel, and decorating for Halloween—which is huge in her Atlanta neighborhood. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook for pix of her latest half-ass craft creations. She’s looking forward to being part of this weekend’s Pat Conroy Literary Festival in Beaufort, SC, where she’ll be on a panel about Southern women novelists with Cassandra King Conroy, Lisa Patton and Dana Ridenour on Saturday, Oct. 24. Free admission! Go here for the festival schedule.

KRISTIN HARMEL spent a quiet weekend at home with a sick kiddo, who fortunately rebounded quickly and is back to feeling fine. She had fun rooting her Gators on to a victory over Texas on Saturday, as well as cheering for the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series. It was a great sports weekend! This weekend, she’s off to Massachusetts for the Cape Cod Book Festival, where she’ll be in conversation with Ariel Lawhon on Sunday at 3pm. Come join her if you’re in the area; tickets are still available and can be purchased here.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

See Kristy’s remaining tour stops for Falling for Peachtree Bluff HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.

Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!

In Case You Missed It

On our most recent episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Ron Block & Kristin Harmel welcomed Bonnie Garmus the #1 New York Times bestselling author of global sensation Lessons in Chemistry to discuss Peck & Peck, her irresistible, delightful, and tender new literary novel set in the publishing world of 1980s New York City about a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world.

You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.

Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show

All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.

Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
WATCH | LISTEN

The Fall 2026 Season of The Friends & Fiction Show
Already aired: Lucy Foley, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Bonnie Garmus, Peck & Peck
WATCH | LISTEN

Audrey Niffenegger, Life Out of Order
Watch LIVE: 10/21 | Listen: 10/23

May Cobb, All the Little Secrets
Watch LIVE: 11/4 | Listen: 11/6

Mary Beth Keane, Whale Harbor
Watch: 11/11 | Listen: 11/13

Nina de Gramont, Peregrine Hill
Watch: 11/18 | Listen: 11/20

Lucy Tan, Tiger’s Mouth
Watch: 12/2 | Listen: 12/4

Nancy Thayer, Nantucket Christmas Stroll
Watch LIVE: 12/9 | Listen: 12/11

Jennifer E. Smith, Rabbit Rabbit
Watch: 12/16 | Listen: 12/18

The NEW F&F 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange

Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!

ORDER NOW

F&F Merch Store

We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!

SHOP OUR MERCH

F&F Official Book Club & 2026 Reading Challenge

Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt about their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. Mark your calendars for October 26th for their next author guest, Kristy WoodsonHarvey, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Falling for Peachtree Bluff. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The October prompt is to read a southern gothic novel and for November it’s to read a work of foodie fiction.

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB

Stay in Touch!

Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.

Subscribe now

Meet Bonnie Garmus TONIGHT

Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—October 14, 2026

Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!

Join us on Wednesday, October 14th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Ron Block & Kristin Harmel welcome Bonnie Garmus the #1 New York Times bestselling author of global sensation Lessons in Chemistry to discuss Peck & Peck, her irresistible, delightful, and tender new literary novel set in the publishing world of 1980s New York City about a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world

Bonnie is a coffee-dependent American novelist whose debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was a Good Morning America Book Club Pick, a Goodreads Choice Best Book of the Year, spent nearly two years on the NYT bestseller list and was named by Times readers as one of the top 100 books of the 21st century. Translated into over forty languages, Lessons in Chemistry was honored with sixteen international literary awards and made into an Apple TV limited series. We are so excited to talk to Bonnie about her second novel, Peck & Peck, which Kristin Hannah praises as “charming, uplifting, soulful, and original,” and LitHub says will “fill a void in all our hearts with a needed dash of wit and poignancy.”

Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 10/14 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 10/16.

Meanwhile, order Bonnie’s book — along with all our guests’ and hosts’ books — at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where your purchases support our show and indie bookstores nationwide!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!

Subscribe now

Latest News from the Fab Four!

KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had a whirlwind trip to Hollywood, working on some fun TV and movie stuff and doing a signing at Zibby’s Books, where she got to see F&F friends Leslie Lehr and John Truby! She came home for a few days—for Will’s homecoming pictures and a whole lot of car time with her favorite newly permitted driver!—and she heads back out Saturday. Catch her Sunday at 10 am in Nashville at the Southern Festival of Books, Monday, she’ll be with Ron at the Brooklyn, Ohio branch of the Cuyahoga County Library—only four tickets left, so snag yours!—then Tuesday she’ll be in Nashville, Indiana. Two Nashvilles, one week! Her Wednesday and Thursday events in Carmel, IN are sold out, but you can get on the waitlist if you want! All this and more tour info are are on Kristy’s website. She can never thank you enough for all the crazy love for Falling for Peachtree Bluff!

PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY had a crazy week hurtling through space and time going from Denver to Birmingham to Minnesota for Indie bookseller trade shows to talk about Heart of the Wild. She has so much to tell all of you! She snuck off for a dinner with our F&F pal, William Kent Krueger and met so many AMAZING booksellers from all over the country. This week she is with another F&F pal, Christina Baker Kline as she introduces her to readers in Alabama.

MARY KAY ANDREWS is becoming fluent in restaurant Italian as she and Mr. MKA continue their Mediterranean cruise. But she’ll be home in time to be in conversation with Bonnie Garmus for her new novel Peck & Peck this Sunday at the Books-a-Million in Canton, GA. Get tickets HERE.

KRISTIN HARMEL wishes she was cruising the Mediterranean with MKA…. but alas, she is home in Orlando, working on her next novel. She enjoyed spending the long weekend with her family and is looking forward to heading up to Massachusetts for the Cape Cod Book Festival the weekend after next. She hopes you enjoy tonight’s episode of Friends & Fiction; she loved Peck & Peck and enjoyed chatting with Ron Block and Bonnie Garmus on the show!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

See Kristy’s remaining tour stops for Falling for Peachtree Bluff HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.

Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!

In Case You Missed It

On our most recent episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Mary Kay Andrews & Kristin Harmel welcomed bestselling, award-winning author Annie Hartnett to discuss her darkly comic and warm-hearted national bestseller, The Road to Tender Hearts, about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death.

You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.

Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show

All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.

Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
WATCH | LISTEN

The Fall 2026 Season of The Friends & Fiction Show
Already aired: Lucy Foley, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts
WATCH | LISTEN

Bonnie Garmus, Peck & Peck
Watch: 10/14 | Listen: 10/16

Audrey Niffenegger, Life Out of Order
Watch LIVE: 10/21 | Listen: 10/23

May Cobb, All the Little Secrets
Watch LIVE: 11/4 | Listen: 11/6

Mary Beth Keane, Whale Harbor
Watch: 11/11 | Listen: 11/13

Nina de Gramont, Peregrine Hill
Watch: 11/18 | Listen: 11/20

Lucy Tan, Tiger’s Mouth
Watch: 12/2 | Listen: 12/4

Nancy Thayer, Nantucket Christmas Stroll
Watch LIVE: 12/9 | Listen: 12/11

Jennifer E. Smith, Rabbit Rabbit
Watch: 12/16 | Listen: 12/18

The NEW F&F 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange

Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!

ORDER NOW

F&F Merch Store

We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!

SHOP OUR MERCH

F&F Official Book Club & 2026 Reading Challenge

Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt about their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. Mark your calendars for October 26th for their next author guest, Kristy WoodsonHarvey, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Falling for Peachtree Bluff. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The October prompt is to read a southern gothic novel and for November it’s to read a work of foodie fiction.

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB

Stay in Touch!

Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.

Subscribe now

Meet Annie Hartnett TONIGHT

Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—October 7, 2026

Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!

Join us on Wednesday, October 7th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Mary Kay Andrews & Kristin Harmel welcome bestselling, award-winning author Annie Hartnett to discuss her darkly comic and warm-hearted national bestseller, The Road to Tender Hearts, about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death.

Annie is the award-winning author of two previous novels Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals. Released in its trade paperback edition in April, The Road to Tender Hearts, won the 2025 New England Book Award for fiction, was longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, was named a best book of 2025 from NPR, LitHub, and Southern Living, and has been translated into nineteen languages. We are so excited to have Annie join us from her home in Massachusetts to talk about this word-of-mouth sensation that is beloved by book clubs and which John Irving calls, “a miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”

Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 10/7 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 10/9.

Meanwhile, order Annie’s book — along with all our guests’ and hosts’ books — at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where your purchases support our show and indie bookstores nationwide!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!

Subscribe now

Latest News from the Fab Four!

KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had a great weekend home celebrating her son’s fifteenth! Today, she’s in LA and so excited for her event at Zibby’s Books at 6 pm tonight in Santa Monica. Come say hi if you’re in the area! And don’t forget: there are many more dates in the Falling for Peachtree Bluff tour if you haven’t made it to one yet!

PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY had a great week at home catching up with friends and family (and writing or attempting to write). Sunday night she attended a concert with an up and coming singer named Lamont Landers and was blown away. Keep your ears open for this guy. She had a quick catch up with Mary Kay at the Antiques in the Gardens in Birmingham and a couple thrift shops (what else of course?). This week, Patti will be traveling from Denver to Minneapolis for Indie Bookstore Trade shows for Heart of the Wild and is so excited about FINALLY being able to really talk about it to booksellers.

MARY KAY ANDREWS loved chatting with Annie Hartnett about The Road to Tender Hearts, and now she’s on a Road Trip er, Sea Cruise, of her own. Look for pix of MKA in Italy and Croatia on her social media. In the meantime, arrividerci baby!

KRISTIN HARMEL attended a celebration of life for her cousin, Courtney, in New York on Sunday and loved hearing all of her friends’ stories about Courtney living it up in Key West and Greenwich Village in the early 1980s! She was a videographer who documented the ‘70s and ‘80s in downtown Manhattan, capturing everyone from Keith Haring to Madonna on film… she led an extraordinary life, and Kristin loved her very much. The quick trip to New York for the gathering brought a wonderful surprise: lunch with author pal Adriana Trigiani, who lives just a few blocks from where the celebration took place. The next day, Kristin headed off to take part in an earlier.org fundraiser for breast cancer research in North Carolina. Now, she’s back home for a whirlwind remainder of the week, writing and taking meetings. She’s looking forward to catching her breath over the long weekend.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

See Kristy’s remaining tour stops for Falling for Peachtree Bluff HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.

Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!

In Case You Missed It

On our most recent episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Mary Kay Andrews & Ron Block welcomed #1 bestselling author Lucy Foley to discuss her brand-new novel, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, the first fully authorized Miss Marple mystery in fifty years featuring Agatha Christie’s iconic detective.

You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.

Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show

All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.

Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
WATCH | LISTEN

The Fall 2026 Season of The Friends & Fiction Show
Already aired: Lucy Foley, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
WATCH | LISTEN

Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts
Watch: 10/7 | Listen: 10/9

Bonnie Garmus, Peck & Peck
Watch: 10/14 | Listen: 10/16

Audrey Niffenegger, Life Out of Order
Watch LIVE: 10/21 | Listen: 10/23

May Cobb, All the Little Secrets
Watch LIVE: 11/4 | Listen: 11/6

Mary Beth Keane, Whale Harbor
Watch: 11/11 | Listen: 11/13

Nina de Gramont, Peregrine Hill
Watch: 11/18 | Listen: 11/20

Lucy Tan, Tiger’s Mouth
Watch: 12/2 | Listen: 12/4

Nancy Thayer, Nantucket Christmas Stroll
Watch LIVE: 12/9 | Listen: 12/11

Jennifer E. Smith, Rabbit Rabbit
Watch: 12/16 | Listen: 12/18

The NEW F&F 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange

Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!

ORDER NOW

F&F Merch Store

We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!

SHOP OUR MERCH

F&F Official Book Club & 2026 Reading Challenge

Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt about their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. Mark your calendars for October 26th for their next author guest, Kristy WoodsonHarvey, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Falling for Peachtree Bluff. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The October prompt is to read a southern gothic novel and for November it’s to read a work of foodie fiction.

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB

Stay in Touch!

Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.

Subscribe now

Meet Ariel Lawhon TONIGHT

Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—September 23, 2026

Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!

Join us on Wednesday, September 23rd at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome New York Times bestselling author Ariel Lawhon to discuss her brand-new instant NYT-bestselling novel, The Pirate Queen, a sweeping historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O’Malley, the legendary Irish folk heroine who risked everything to defend her people.

Ariel is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, bestselling author of seven works of historical fiction including Code Name Hélène, The Wife the Maid and the Mistress, and I Was Anastasia. Her 2023 novel, The Frozen River was a Good Morning America Book Club pick and an NPR Book of the Year that has sold more than a million copies and spent more than 40 total cumulative weeks on the NYT bestseller list, with film rights optioned by Trudie Styler’s Maven Screen Media. Ariel’s books have been translated into more than 40 languages. We can’t wait to venture onto the high seas with Ariel to chat about this keenly observed, action-packed novel that channels the untamed beauty and harsh realities of sixteenth-century Ireland as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine.

Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 9/23 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 9/25.

Meanwhile, order Ariel’s new book — along with all our guests’ and hosts’ books — at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where your purchases support our show and indie bookstores nationwide!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!

Subscribe now

Latest News from the Fab Four!

KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had the BEST launch week for Falling for Peachtree Bluff! She is just so honored and wowed by your massive enthusiasm for this book and has loved every second of this spectacular tour so far! She is in Alabama today, will be at Page and Palette tonight with her friend Julie Cantrell. This weekend, she’ll be at the Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem with Sarah Addison Allen. She has lots of tour dates to come, so check out her website for more info. She wants to thank each of you from the bottom of her heart for all the book love. It’s been so amazing!

PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is excited for y’all to watch this week’s show with Ariel and her instant NYT bestseller, The Pirate Queen. Meanwhile, Patti spent part of this week outside Boston talking to booksellers about her newest book, Heart of the Wild, out next April. Then on to her alma mater to watch her Auburn Tigers get beat by Kristin’s Florida Gators (but she’s still an Auburn fan to the core). This coming week, she’ll be in Nebraska for the first time and is so looking forward to speaking to the library and teaching a class.

MARY KAY ANDREWS spent a whirlwind 24 hours in High Point, NC last week to speak to the High Point Literary League–and she even managed to fit in a little shopping. On Saturday she and Mr. MKA hosted a homecoming picture party for granddaughter Molly and three dozen friends, which was exhausting but fun. She will NOT gloat about her UGA Dawgs’ win over Arkansas. (This is her not gloating.) She’s excited to speak to the authors of two of her fave recent reads, Lucy Foley, author of Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, and Annie Hartnett, author of The Road to Tender Hearts later this week for upcoming F&F segments.

KRISTIN HARMEL is in New York today for a quick visit with her publisher (Gallery Books) to talk about future plans, and then this weekend, she’s off to Amelia Island for a conversation with author Savannah Carlisle at the Amelia Theater to benefit the Amelia Island Book Festival. Kristin also watched the UF-Auburn game last weekend (from afar) and it was such a great game…either team could have won (although she’s glad it was the Gators, in the end!). Five more weeks until the Gators go head-to-head with MKA’s Georgia Bulldogs on Halloween (and just three more weeks until Patti’s Auburn and MKA’s UGA play on Oct. 17!), so prepare for plenty of (friendly) trash talking between the Fab Four from now through the end of October!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

See Kristy’s full tour for Falling for Peachtree Bluff HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.

Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!

In Case You Missed It

On our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Ron Block & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcomed award-winning, NYT-bestselling author Chloe Benjamin to discuss her new novel and this month’s Good Morning America Book Club pick, Under Story, an intimate yet epic love story that’s also a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery.

You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.

Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show

All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.

Already aired: Kathryn Stockett, The Calamity Club
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Mary Kay Andrews, Road Trip
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Annabel Monaghan, Dolly All the Time
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ann Patchett, Whistler
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: John Searles, Single Girls
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ben Reeves, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristin Harmel, Meet Me in Paris
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Christina Lauren, The Romance Revival
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
WATCH | LISTEN

Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
Watch: September 23 | Listen: September 25

Stay tuned for the reveal (coming soon!) of our Fall 2026 (Oct–Dec) guest line-up!

The NEW F&F 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange

Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!

ORDER NOW

F&F Merch Store

We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!

SHOP OUR MERCH

F&F Official Book Club & 2026 Reading Challenge

Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Kristin Harmel about her new novel, Meet Me In Paris. Mark your calendars for September 28th for their next author guests, Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt, when they’ll discuss their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The September prompt is to read a book that takes place over a week and for October it’s to read a southern gothic novel.

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB

Stay in Touch!

Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.

Subscribe now

Meet Chloe Benjamin TONIGHT

Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—September 16, 2026

Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!

Join us on Wednesday, September 16th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Ron Block & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome award-winning, NYT-bestselling author Chloe Benjamin to discuss her new novel and this month’s Good Morning America Book Club pick, Under Story, an intimate yet epic love story that’s also a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery.

Chloe is the author of The Anatomy of Dreams and The Immortalists which was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, a LibraryReads favorite, a #1 Indie Next pick, and a best book of 2018 according to NPR and The Washington Post among others. Chloe joins us from her home in the San Francisco Bay Area to discuss her eagerly anticipated new novel that invites us to consider the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love. Already met with wall-to-wall incredible reviews, this novel cements Chloe’s place among our best and most lasting storytellers and we cannot wait to chat with her.

Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 9/16 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 9/18.

Meanwhile, order Chloe’s new book — along with all our guests’ and hosts’ books — at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org where your purchases support our show and indie bookstores nationwide!

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!

Subscribe now

Latest News from the Fab Four!

KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had the most amazing pub day ever for Falling for Peachtree Bluff thanks to all of you! Being in conversation with Emily Giffin in Roswell was a total dream and she has loved seeing so many of you at her tour stops so far! There are many, many more stops to go so please come see her! She is overwhelmed and overjoyed by all of your posts and well wishes—and can’t wait to hear what you think about her new book!

PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is thrilled that it is finally Kristy Woodson Harvey’s pub week for Falling for Peachtree Bluff! She also celebrated her friend Ariel Lawhon’s pub week by making a road trip to Nashville to see her launch The Pirate Queen with another F&F favorite – J.T. Ellison. Then this past weekend she celebrated her nephew’s wedding with a grand celebration in North Carolina. Now she is on to Boston, MA for her first bookseller trade show to start talking about Heart of the Wild with the people we all love so much: indie booksellers!

MARY KAY ANDREWS is falling for Peachtree Bluff! (See what she did there?) She spent a productive weekend doing a glow-up of a bedroom at Ebbtide, her Tybee Island beach house. In between, she loved meeting fans at a party at Seaside Sisters on Tybee. She left lots of signed copies of Road Trip behind—and the good news is, they ship! Today she’s in High Point, NC for a fun luncheon with the High Point Literary League.

KRISTIN HARMEL is so happy that Kristy’s Falling for Peachtree Bluff is finally out in the world! Have you had a chance to see her on the road yet? Kristin also got to celebrate Madeline Martin’s new A Time Of Witches this week, with an in-person event at Writer’s Block Bookstore in Orlando (followed by a nice dinner with Madeline!). She’s looking forward to a private speaking engagement in Tampa this week and a quick trip to New York next week.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

See Kristy’s full tour for Falling for Peachtree Bluff HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.

Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!

In Case You Missed It

On our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, the full F&F family gathered to celebrate this month’s F&F Featured Author, our very own Kristy Woodson Harvey, to discuss our September 2026 Pick of the Month, Falling for Peachtree Bluff, the fifth installment in Kristy’s fan-favorite series that reunites the Murphy crew just in time for pumpkin spice season.

You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.

Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show

All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.

Already aired: Kathryn Stockett, The Calamity Club
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Mary Kay Andrews, Road Trip
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Annabel Monaghan, Dolly All the Time
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ann Patchett, Whistler
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: John Searles, Single Girls
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Ben Reeves, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristin Harmel, Meet Me in Paris
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Christina Lauren, The Romance Revival
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN

Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
WATCH | LISTEN

Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
Watch: September 16 | Listen: September 18

Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
Watch: September 23 | Listen: September 25

Stay tuned for the reveal (coming soon!) of our Fall 2026 (Oct–Dec) guest line-up!

The NEW F&F 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange

Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!

ORDER NOW

F&F Merch Store

We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!

SHOP OUR MERCH

F&F Official Book Club & 2026 Reading Challenge

Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Kristin Harmel about her new novel, Meet Me In Paris. Mark your calendars for September 28th for their next author guests, Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt, when they’ll discuss their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The September prompt is to read a book that takes place over a week and for October it’s to read a southern gothic novel.

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB

Stay in Touch!

Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.

Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.

Subscribe now