by Jetta Carleton

Harper Perennial
HarperCollins Publishers
www.harperperennial.com
ISBN  978-0-06-167323-8
$14.99 Trade Paperback
Published April 2009 (on sale 3/24/09)
Fiction / A rediscovered classic and timeless bestseller, originally published in 1963 / Set on a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century / Family and relationships

“I loved THE MOONFLOWER VINE ! For me, reading this book was like drinking well water out of a tin dipper, licking my finger after sticking it in the cream on top of the milk bucket, biting into a juicy blackberry fresh off the vine. The stories were familiar in a way that reminded me of times spent on the porch with my aunts and great aunts. I wish there could be more!”
- Vicki Erwin, Main Street Books, St Charles MO

“Of the hundreds upon hundreds of novels I’ve edited, this is literally the only one I’ve re-read several times since its publication. And every time I’ve read it, I’ve been moved by it again-by the people, by their lives; by the truth and clarity and generosity of the writing and feeling.”
- Robert Gottlieb, former Editor-in-Chief, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Mr. Gottlieb published THE MOONFLOWER VINE at Simon & Schuster in 1963.

“This is a deeply satisfying novel. It’s nostalgic without being naïve, and reminds us that the early 20th century women of the Midwest were more complicated, more rebellious, and more savvy than we’ve ever given them credit for.  Where has this book been all my life?  My only regret is that my mother and grandmothers aren’t still alive to share it, because, oh! the talks we would have!
“I just passed our reading copy of THE MOONFLOWER VINE to another staff member, and like a crazed evangelical, insisted that she unpack her other books for her trip and put this one on top.”
- Margie Petersen White, The Bookstore, Glen Ellyn, Illinois

 

“Once in a great, great while comes a new book that makes you thankful you know how to read. THE MOONFLOWER VINE is just such a book…Written with a great feeling for beauty, human emotions and human foibles . . . filled with nostalgia, love, laughter, tears and real people.”
- San Francisco News-Call Bulletin

A PERFECT choice for reading groups and book clubs – download the reading group guide below! Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!  Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.

MBA Bookseller Information

For more information about THE MOONFLOWER VINE, please contact your HarperCollins sales rep or call 1-800-242-7737.  Order from HarperCollins Publishers or your preferred wholesaler.
If you have publicity questions about this book, please contact Audrey Harris, 212-207-7185.  Unfortunately, as the author is deceased, the publisher will be unable to meet any requests for events.  If you have marketing questions, please contact Stephanie Selah, 212-207-7868.

MBA Booksellers: earn up to $75 in rebates for promoting this book!  See the marketing information and rebate form below.

Downloads

• Midwest Connections Rebate Form (PDF) – coming
• Full-color sign/flyer (PDF)
• Community Events Ideas  (PDF)
• Reading Group Guide (PDF)
• Harper Perennial P.S. -  notes on the author and the book’s timeline (PDF)
• Introduction to the book by author Jane Smiley (PDF)
• Author photo (JPG)
• Book photo (JPG)
• Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials

About the Book

“THE MOONFLOWER VINE is the story of Matthew and Callie Soames and their daughters. Each section of the novel is told from the perspective of a different character, giving a nuanced picture of the complexities of family life. This is a book with timeless appeal and characters.”
-Sally Wizik Wills, Sister Wolf Books, Dorset, MN

“A poignant . . . novel that has captured the heart of America and become one of the best-loved bestsellers of our day .. . . A profoundly satisfying book.”
- New York Herald Tribune

“A distinguished achievement”
- Chicago Tribune

“A deeply felt American family saga…dramatic…constantly alive.”
- Harper’s Magazine

“The flavor of THE MOONFLOWER VINE is much the same as that of To Kill a Mockingbird…It has the same quiet feel of nostalgia, a breeze scented with bluegrass and wild roses…THE MOONFLOWER VINE is a delightful book.”
- Denver Post

On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy’s fate will be the family’s greatest tragedy.

Over the decades, they will love, deceive, comfort, and forgive each other – and ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.

Jane Smiley includes THE MOONFLOWER VINE on her list of 100 great novels in her bestselling book Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel. Alongside such classics as Don Quixote, Moby Dick, and Wuthering Heights, THE MOONFLOWER VINE is the only little-known work Smiley addresses. Of it, she writes:

“Several American novels on our list-The House of the Seven Gables, The Awakening, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Moonflower Vine-gain considerable dramatic tension from secrets that the characters are required to keep to maintain respectability in the towns where they live. The conflict between who a character feels herself or himself to be and what is acceptable to friends and colleagues is as constant a theme in American novels as, say, a character’s relationship to the state is in German novels. In exploring the romantic secrets of each member of a single family, Carleton offers something of a catalog of ideas on the subject of secret desires-The Moonflower Vine could have been a scandalous novel. But by presenting each character’s desire as a moral dilemma for that character, and especially by consistently depicting the bonds of love that eventually hold the family together, she succeeds in arousing both empathy and sympathy in the reader.”

About the Author

JETTA CARLETON was born in 1913 in Holden, Missouri (population about 500), and earned a Master’s degree at the University of Missouri. She worked as a schoolteacher, a radio copywriter in Kansas City, and, for eight years, as a television copywriter for New York City advertising agencies. She and her husband settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they ran a small publishing house, Lightning Tree. She died in 1999. THE MOONFLOWER VINE is her only published novel. Author photo Credit: copyright, William G. Berkeley

Midwest Connections Marketing Plans

• $75 in REBATES from MBA for display photos, ads, features in your newsletters, e-newsletters, and on your store website – print out the REBATE FORM above and follow instructions.
• Contact the publisher to inquire about bookstore events, book club and book group appearances and/or phoners with the author.
• Banners and Midwest Connections page for the book on the MBA website.
• Flyer/sign PDF file and other materials provided by the publisher.
• Reading copies of THE MOONFLOWER VINE available from Harper Perennial and MBA – contact the MBA office if you need a book.
• Print ad you can run in your local paper – earn a rebate from MBA for your ad!
• Midwest Connections stickers, shelf-talkers, signs, bookmarks for in-store displays – earn a display rebate, too.