Friends & Fiction

For Christmas week, we are re-airing one of our favorite episodes from the vault! Join us as the Fab Four — Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry — talk to #1 bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid about her blockbuster 2021 novel MAILUBU RISING, a NYT-bestseller and Read with Jenna Book Club Pick.Taylor's books have been chosen by Reese’s Book Club, Read with Jenna, Indie Next, Best of Amazon, and Book of the Month. Taylor is the author of nine novels, including DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, which was adapted by Hello Sunshine as a limited series for Amazon and has sold more than 2-million copies. In August 2021, Taylor joined us to discuss MAILUBU RISING. Now is the perfect time to revisit this episode as Taylor had quite the year in 2025 including gracing the cover of TIME Magazine. Her 2025 #1 NYT-bestselling novel, ATMOSPHERE, was a GMA Book Club pick, dominated bestseller lists for weeks on end, and now tops loads of year-end best-of lists, including being named the Target Book of the Year and Audible’s Audiobook of the Year. So, as you wait for Santa to come down the chimney, tune in for this interview, now with a brand-new intro recorded by Kristin Harmel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Ron Block welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author, Jacquelyn Mitchard, to discuss The Birdwatcher, her page-turning drama that explores the beauty of female friendship; the relationship between money, power, and sex; and the very human desire to protect the ones we love most. Jacquelyn Mitchard is the award-winning, NYT-bestselling author of twelve novels for adults, seven novels for teenagers, and five children's books. These include The Deep End of the Ocean, the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club with more than 3-million copies in print in 34 languages. She is also a professor of creative writing whose short stories, articles, essays, and book reviews have been widely published. A native of Chicago, she joins us from her home on Cape Cod to discuss her new novel, The Birdwatcher, which was named a Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2025 and which Lisa Genova calls, “a suspenseful, twisty, and page-turning drama.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Patti Callahan Henry welcome New York Times bestselling author, Ace Atkins, to discuss his rollicking comedic thriller, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, set in 1985 in which a suburban teen suspects his mom’s new boyfriend is the ultimate bad guy—a KGB agent. Ace Atkins is an award-winning, NYT-bestselling author of more than thirty novels and numerous short stories and, in 2011, was tapped by the estate of Robert B. Parker to continue his beloved Spenser series. A former college football player at Auburn University (where he was part of the undefeated 1993 team, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated) and a former crime reporter at The Tampa Tribune, Ace is a recipient of the Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award and the Harper Lee Award, and is a member of the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame. He joins us from his home in Oxford, Mississippi to discuss Everybody Wants to Rule the World which his publisher calls “Elmore Leonard meets Robert Ludlum,” and which bestselling author Robert Crais describes as “unlike anything the great Ace Atkins has written before, and an absolute blast!” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Kristin Harmel, Patti Callahan Henry & Mary Kay Andrews welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, the internationally renowned, award-winning, NYT-bestselling author John Irving, to discuss our December 2025 Pick of the Month, Queen Esther, which returns us after forty years to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award-winning film, The Cider House Rules. John Irving is an icon of American letters and the acclaimed author of more than 20 books which have been translated into more than 35 languages. His works include the National Book Award winning cultural phenomenon The World According to Garp; The Cider House Rules, for which he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay; The Hotel New Hampshire, a bestseller which was made into a film starring Jodie Foster; and A Prayer for Owen Meany which is his all-time bestselling novel in every language. A former competitive wrestler and wrestling coach, he is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, John joins us from his home in Toronto to discuss Queen Esther which revisits the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther, a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For Thanksgiving week we are re-airing one of our favorite episodes from the vault! Join us as Kristin Harmel & Patti Callahan Henry talk to #1 bestselling author Louise Penny about her Fall 2024 novel The Grey Wolf, the 19th installment in her wildly successful Armand Gamache mystery series. Louise Penny is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Globe and Mail bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. She was also the co-author with Hillary Rodham Clinton of the #1 New York Times bestselling thriller State of Terror. In October 2024, Kristin & Patti enjoyed a warm and insightful chat with Louise about her life and career. Now is the perfect time to re-air this episode as the 20th Gamache novel, The Black Wolf, was just released on October 28, 2025. So, as you’re slicing, dicing, baking, and entertaining, tune in for this chat, now with a brand-new intro recorded by Patti! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.