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Lola's Secret: A Novel
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Published:
Random House Publishing Group 2012
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Description
Praised as “Australia’s answer to Maeve Binchy, a modern-day Jane Austen” (The Sun Herald, Australia), Monica McInerney, internationally bestselling author of The Alphabet Sisters, returns with a poignant novel of love, loss, and the enduring strength of family ties.
 
Nestled in a picturesque corner of southern Australia, the Valley View Motel has been run by the Quinlans for years—and nobody adores the place more than Lola, the family’s lovable and mischievous Irish-born matriarch. So when she insists that her relatives spend their Christmas elsewhere, the close-knit bunch can’t help but be a bit curious. Lola has always had a knack for clever schemes; after all, she once slyly reunited her three feuding granddaughters, whom she nicknamed the Alphabet Sisters. And with the holiday season fast approaching, Lola decides it’s time to stir up some extra excitement.
 
Plotting in secret and online, Lola thinks it would be fun to invite a select group of strangers to stay at the motel for Christmas. Will these guests become friends, ignite sparks, fall in love? As she counts down the days until their arrival, Lola’s own family dramas threaten to upend her best-laid plans. Yet amid moments of humor, heartache, and unexpected twists of fate, Lola finds that she’s the one who’s in for the biggest surprise of all.
 
“[Monica] McInerney’s assured writing sparkles. . . . When you reach the end, [Lola’s Secret] will leave you feeling like you’ve been given a huge, warm hug.”—Hello! magazine
 
“A delicate treat . . . a lovely, gentle story of a family, a Christmas, love and different kinds of adventure.”—The Courier-Mail (Australia)
 
“Exploring universal family issues of loss, rivalry, aging and grief, [Lola’s Secret] is a warm, witty and moving novel.”—Woman’s Day (Australia)
 
Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
10/16/2012
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780345534040
ASIN:
B007WKE4MG
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Monica McInerney. (2012). Lola's Secret: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Monica McInerney. 2012. Lola's Secret: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Monica McInerney, Lola's Secret: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group, 2012.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Monica McInerney. Lola's Secret: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group, 2012.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 17:10:12
Date Updated:
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      • bioText: Monica McInerney grew up in a family of seven children in the Clare Valley of South Australia, where her father was the railway stationmaster. She is the author of the internationally bestselling novels The Alphabet Sisters, Family Baggage, The Faraday Girls, Upside Down Inside Out, Greetings from Somewhere Else, At Home with the Templetons, and Lola’s Secret. She now lives in Dublin with her husband.
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2012-10-16T00:00:00-04:00
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title
Lola's Secret
fullDescription
Praised as “Australia’s answer to Maeve Binchy, a modern-day Jane Austen” (The Sun Herald, Australia), Monica McInerney, internationally bestselling author of The Alphabet Sisters, returns with a poignant novel of love, loss, and the enduring strength of family ties.
 
Nestled in a picturesque corner of southern Australia, the Valley View Motel has been run by the Quinlans for years—and nobody adores the place more than Lola, the family’s lovable and mischievous Irish-born matriarch. So when she insists that her relatives spend their Christmas elsewhere, the close-knit bunch can’t help but be a bit curious. Lola has always had a knack for clever schemes; after all, she once slyly reunited her three feuding granddaughters, whom she nicknamed the Alphabet Sisters. And with the holiday season fast approaching, Lola decides it’s time to stir up some extra excitement.
 
Plotting in secret and online, Lola thinks it would be fun to invite a select group of strangers to stay at the motel for Christmas. Will these guests become friends, ignite sparks, fall in love? As she counts down the days until their arrival, Lola’s own family dramas threaten to upend her best-laid plans. Yet amid moments of humor, heartache, and unexpected twists of fate, Lola finds that she’s the one who’s in for the biggest surprise of all.
 
“[Monica] McInerney’s assured writing sparkles. . . . When you reach the end, [Lola’s Secret] will leave you feeling like you’ve been given a huge, warm hug.”—Hello! magazine
 
“A delicate treat . . . a lovely, gentle story of a family, a Christmas, love and different kinds of adventure.”—The Courier-Mail (Australia)
 
“Exploring universal family issues of loss, rivalry, aging and grief, [Lola’s Secret] is a warm, witty and moving novel.”—Woman’s Day (Australia)
 
Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: -Bookseller & Publisher (Australia)
      • content: "A moving and mostly gentle tale about age, family, love, loss and secrets... As each strand of the story is secured and resolved, the message is about the priority of family and the power of love...In Lola's Secret, as in her other novels, McInerney's aim is unerringly true."--Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)

        "McInerney's cast of a thousand chatty voices is etched effortlessly and resonantly by the end of chapter two and has been described as "comfort reading" and "warm buttered toast". Except McInerney's protagonist is no pushover and there are no honey-dripped endings. This is full of grains of truth: it is never too late to live, but you are never too old to learn."--Australian Women's Weekly

        "Monica McInerney published her popular novel The Alphabet Sisters in 2004 and in Lola's Secret she revives one of the most interesting central characters –the eccentric...
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        August 13, 2012
        Australian author McInerney revisits the Quinlan family (first introduced in 2005’s The Alphabet Sisters), this time focusing on the quirky matriarch: 84-year-old Lola. After ensuring that her son, Jim—the proprietor of the South Australian motel that Lola calls home—and his wife, Geraldine, go on a much needed vacation over Christmas, Lola secretly invites a disparate group of guests to stay at the motel free of charge. As the adventure approaches, readers learn that Lola is a favorite among friends and family, including her squabbling granddaughters Bett and Carrie, who prefer commiserating with their grandmother to confiding in Geraldine, a practice that triggers the latter’s resentment. Lola also serves as referee and advice-giver at the thrift store where she works, whose “NASA control room” of computers she uses to keep in touch with great-granddaughter Ellen. Politics at the shop, family tensions, a rotating cast of characters, and the possibility of Lola locating her lost love keep this book jam-packed with plot lines, and though one gimmicky thread gets lost en route to the end, big personalities and believable conflicts keep the story engaging. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Co.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        September 15, 2012
        Life can be both good and bad, and you're guaranteed heaps of both in McInerney's follow-up to The Alphabet Sisters (2004). Just ask great-grandmother Lola, the crusty doyen of the Quinlan family. The octogenarian has encouraged the entire family to take separate vacations during the Christmas holiday while she stays at the family-owned Australian Valley View Motel and holds down the fort. Of course, her family believes that Lola's just looking forward to some much-needed rest since the motel doesn't have any bookings while they're gone. But wily old Lola, who's become somewhat of an expert using the Internet, has other plans. She's actually booked free rooms for a handful of people who have some very messy personal problems. Not that Lola's aware that these people have problems, and not that their problems are really very central to the overall plot, since each problem is resolved before any of the potential guests show up at the motel. So, if Lola doesn't have to deal with all the guests and their problems--after they happily resolve their issues, they cancel their reservations--what does she have to worry about? For one, Lola's son wants to sell the motel and pursue different interests, and that kind of throws Lola's future into disarray. Plus, Lola's 12-year-old great-granddaughter is acting like a brat because her father is dating again five years after the death of her mother, and Lola's surviving adult granddaughters, Bett and Carrie, are also acting pretty bratty and arguing like, well, like sisters. Then there's the pushy volunteer at the local charity store where Lola spends a great deal of her time. She insists that they decorate the display window for the annual Christmas competition using her design. Lola, of course, applies the wisdom of her advanced years to straightening out every situation, while briefly reconnecting to her past and resolving her own future. If McInerney fans search hard enough, they'll find a faint heartwarming message somewhere in the midst of this ho-hum plot.

        COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        September 1, 2012
        The incomparable Lola Quinlan, garish dresser and confirmed meddler, is the center of a galaxy of family and friends in Lola's Secret, McInerney's sequel to The Alphabet Sisters (2005). At 84 years old, Lola is still laying plans and changing lives, all from the confines of a South Australian country motel. As Christmas approaches, so do large and small tribulations that face the Quinlan clan and the guests coming to the motel. McInerney brings a light touch and plenty of humor to her on-the-nose depiction of the characters, whose squabbles show everyone's biasesone person's helpful advice is another's insufferable hectoring. As their stories intertwine, the various characters meet challenges with courage and kindness despite their shortcomings, and the love that binds them together is touchingly revealed in the resolution. McInerney believes in the goodness of people. The hectic nature of life and the pressure of the holidays are a potent mix, but Lola sees her loved ones through it all. Lola, and the novel, cheerily salutes the extraordinary in the ordinary and the connections of family and friends.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

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Praised as “Australia’s answer to Maeve Binchy, a modern-day Jane Austen” (The Sun Herald, Australia), Monica McInerney, internationally bestselling author of The Alphabet Sisters, returns with a poignant novel of love, loss, and the enduring strength of family ties.
 
Nestled in a picturesque corner of southern Australia, the Valley View Motel has been run by the Quinlans for years—and nobody adores the place more than Lola, the family’s lovable and mischievous Irish-born matriarch. So when she insists that her relatives spend their Christmas elsewhere, the close-knit bunch can’t help but be a bit curious. Lola has always had a knack for clever schemes; after all, she once slyly reunited her three feuding granddaughters, whom she nicknamed the Alphabet Sisters. And with the holiday season fast approaching, Lola decides it’s time to stir up some extra excitement.
 
Plotting in...
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