05.21.2021 Right Back Where We Started From by Joy Lanzendorfer @HFVBT

 

Right Back Where We Started From by Joy Lanzendorfer

Publication Date: May 4, 2021

Blackstone Publishing

Paperback; eBook, & Audiobook

Genre: Historical Fiction

If misfortune hadn't gotten in the way, Sandra Sanborn would be where she belongs--among the rich and privileged instead of standing outside a Hollywood studio wearing a sandwich board in the hope of someone discovering her. It's tough breaking into the movies during the Great Depression, but Sandra knows that she's destined for greatness. After all, her grandmother Vira crossed the country during the Gold Rush and established the Sanborns as one of San Francisco's most prominent families, and her mother Mabel grew up in a lavish mansion and married into an agricultural empire. Success, Sandra feels, is in her blood. She just needs a chance to prove it.

In between failed auditions, Sandra receives a letter from a man claiming to be her father, which calls into question everything she believes about her family--and herself. As she tries to climb the social ladder, family secrets lurk in the background, pulling her down. Until Sandra confronts the truth about how Vira and Mabel gained and lost their fortunes, she will always end up right back where she started from.

Right Back Where We Started From is a sweeping, multigenerational work of fiction that explores the lust for ambition that entered into the American consciousness during the Gold Rush and how it affected our nation's ideas of success, failure, and the pursuit of happiness. It is a meticulously layered saga--at once historically rich, romantic, and suspenseful--about three determined and completely unforgettable women.

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Praise

"In Right Back Where We Started From Joy Lanzendorfer has crafted a terrific first novel, one brimming with energy, wit, and emotional resonance. Sandra Sanborn is a wonderful character, very much alive on the page. And, the novel captures, vividly, some of the crazier times in California's crazy history. Highly recommended!" --Peter Orner, author of Maggie Brown & Others

"Joy Lanzendorfer's thrill of a novel, Right Back Where We Started From, tells the story of an engaging young woman, eager to be discovered in 1930s Hollywood. But as she looks to the future, a letter from a man who claims to be her father pulls her to the unknown past. This is a novel of California dreaming, from the Gold Rush to the Hollywood Hills. Lanzendorfer writes with charm, style, and great energy." --Ellen Sussman, New York Times bestselling author of four novels: A Wedding in Provence, The Paradise Guest House, French Lessons, and On a Night like This

"From the California Gold Rush to the San Francisco earthquake, through the Great Depression and World War II, Joy Lanzendorfer artfully weaves a beautifully textured saga. Yearnings, secrets, and shame shape the lives of three generations of American women as they dare to question the rigid societal expectations that confine them to proscribed roles and stifle ambition. Gripping prose and complex and memorable characters make this shining debut novel a pleasure to read." --Liza Nash Taylor, author of Etiquette for Runaways and the forthcoming In All Good Faith

MY REVIEW:

Joy Lanzendorfer's debut was a well written epic tale and multigenerational saga about the unforgettable Sanborn women - Sandy, Vira and Mabel whose stories and lives were incredibly portrayed through their drive and ambition. Right Back Where We Started From was a character driven story about achieving dreams and destiny, despite the misfortunes that laid upon these women.


This historical fiction tale swept through the dreams made during the California Gold Rush, to dreams devastated by the Great Depression as the experiences of these women whose drive for success far exceeded the limits the society had put upon them during that time.


As a native Californian now living in the SoCal, I enjoyed the well researched writing about prominent times in California history including the San Francisco earthquake, to the second World War, and to the glitz and glam of the 1930's Hollywood. I could not stop turning the pages on this fantastic debut for its engaging story line, characters that jumped off the pages, and the beautifully rich and accurate detailed writing about the historical backdrop of this gorgeous sweeping story.


Well done Joy Lanzendorfer in this fantastic debut!

About the Author

Joy Lanzendorfer’s work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, NPR, Smithsonian, Poetry Foundation, and many others. She was included in The Best Small Fictions anthology and was a notable in The Best American Essays 2019. She has been awarded grants and residencies from the Discovered Awards for Emerging Literary Artists, Wildacres Residency Program, and the Speculative Literature Foundation.

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Blog Tour Schedule

Wednesday, May 5
Excerpt at Passages to the Past

Thursday, May 6
Review at Crystal's Library

Saturday, May 8
Review at Reading is My Remedy

Sunday, May 9
Review at Carole's Ramblings

Monday, May 10
Review at Rajiv's Reviews

Tuesday, May 11
Excerpt at Books, Ramblings, and Tea

Wednesday, May 12
Excerpt at Bookworlder

Sunday, May 16
Interview at Reader_ceygo

Monday, May 17
Review at Reader_ceygo
Review at Jorie Loves A Story

Wednesday, May 19
Guest Post at Novels Alive

Thursday, May 20
Review at Jessica Belmont

Friday, May 21
Review at Nursebookie

Monday, May 24
Review at Novels Alive
Review at Two Bookish Babes

Wednesday, May 26
Feature at Books, Cooks, Looks

Friday, May 28
Excerpt at Coffee and Ink
Review at The Enchanted Shelf
Review at The Book Club Network

Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of Right Back Where We Started From by Joy Lanzendorfer!

The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on May 28th. You must be 18 or older to enter.

Right Back Where We Started From