The House on Tradd Street is one of three finalists in the fiction category for the 2009 SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Association) Book of the Year Award!

The House on Tradd Street has been nominated for a RITA in the Mainstream with Romantic Elements Category!

June 29 , 2009

Summer is here! And if you live anywhere near me in Georgia, you'll agree that it's arrived with a vengeance. It's going to be about 96 degrees today, certainly hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. My dog balks at going outside, and so does my hair. Can't be helped, though; this is the price we pay for living in a climate that gives us the most beautiful springs and falls and bearable winters. Yeah, I'll take limp hair over shoveling snow any day!

I'd also like to take this opportunity for a belated thanks to the Southern Independent Booksellers who've made my book The House on Tradd Street a finalist in their coveted Book of the Year Award. Thank you for the word of mouth and handselling that has made the book a success; none of it could have happened without you. So whether or not I win, it is truly an honor to have even been considered.

And to my readers, thank you for buying my books and telling your friends, and for taking the time out of your busy lives to write to me. Hearing from readers will always be the highlight of this job.

I hope you all have stacks of wonderful summer books to read in the shade or on the beach. Summer has always been my favorite time of the year if only because of all the vacation reading I get to do. Relaxing on the beach is a close second--but reading ON the beach is right there at the top. I'm heading to the beach next week and I've got my pile of books ready to go. Then, if there's room in my suitcase, I'll pack some clothes. :-)

Stay tuned for some exciting news to be announced here in August. For fans of my now out-of-print Falling Home and After the Rain, you won't want to miss it.

Until next time, happy reading!

AVAILABLE April 2009 at a bookstore near you or your favorite online bookseller.

About THE LOST HOURS:
New American Library, ISBN# 978-0-451-22649-5
Read Excerpt
For more info on this book, please click here (pdf)

Award-winning author Karen White creates heartfelt stories "full of vibrant characters and emotion that leaves the reader satisfied yet hungry for more" (Booklist). Now she returns to the Lowcountry with a gripping tale of family secrets, fate, and forgiveness.

For more reviews click here

When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.

Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper’s dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace—and a newspaper article from 1939 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace’s charms tell the story of three friends during the 1930s— each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell. And now, too late, Piper finds she might have been wrong.

Reviews

"The Lost Hours reads as an intricately plotted mystery...White makes a good case for why new generations should sustain ties with the old--and why certain stories have to be told, no matter how long it takes."
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 5, 2009.

"Wonderful phrasing...leav[es] readers with a slice of history too haunting to be forgotten."
—Charleston Magazine, June 2009

"An evocative setting, dark family secrets, and as tory that will keep you reading late into the night."
—Award-winning author, Diane Chamberlain

"...characters and images as lush as the gardens of Georgia...satisfying and compelling."
—RT BookReviews magazine

"(The author) drew me in like a tall glass of sweet tea on a hot summer's day but instead of quenching my thirst, reading The Lost Hours has only made me crave more from the very talented Karen White."
—PJ Ausdenmore, RomanceNovelTV

"...[Y]ou won’t be able to put this down as you’re drawn quickly into a story that is equal parts mystery, romance, and an important look into family."
—Manic Readers

"THE LOST HOURS is an intriguing, suspense-filled romantic suspense. I absolutely loved this book. "
—Romance Junkies

"Author Karen White opens The Lost Hours with absolutely exquisite descriptions and pulls you right into the Savannah setting and the heart of the story. The characters are compelling, flaws and all, thanks to Ms. White's well-honed skills. "
—Roberta, A Romance Review