Margaret Hawkins | Official Author Website

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"Captivating...keeps you reading as it examines the gap between how we think we build our destinies . . . and how we actually build them."
—0, The Oprah Magazine
"It is this kind of book: the kind one buys extra copies of to pass out to friends."
—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Sumptuous . . . a repast
that’s alternately uncomfortable and soothing, weepy and jubilant, evocative and realistic. "
—Publishers Weekly
"Hawkins’s smart, crackling novel is a snowy, midwestern Mrs. Dalloway, with Elizabeth Berg-ish charm and Hawkins’s own edgy, artfully particularized humor."
—Booklist
"A completely winning book about friendship, an elusive and almost never written about subject, which makes this a rare achievement."
—Diane Johnson,
author of Le Divorce, Flyover Lives
"A brilliant story, so perfectly told, the characters instantly recognizable and unforgettable, that they take up residence in one’s heart."
—Jo-Ann Mapson,
author of Solomon’s Oak, Finding Casey
"A luminous reflection
that will linger long
after the last page."
—Sally Koslow,
author of The Widow Waltz
"At once funny
and moving, Lydia’s Party
is a pure delight."
—Rilla Askew,
author of Fire in Beulah

Now available in paperback

For fans of Anne Tyler and Anna Quindlen, a mesmerizing
portrait of friendship that explores seven women’s lives with a generous embrace and wondrous wisdom

Lydia is having a party—it’s a party she hosts every year for six women friends who treasure the midwinter bash. Over a table laden with a feast of food and wine, the women revel in sharing newsy updates, simmering secrets, and laughter. As this particular evening unfolds, Lydia prepares to make a shattering announcement...read more

Margaret Hawkins is the author of two previous novels, A Year of Cats and Dogs and How to Survive a Natural Disaster, and a memoir about her sister, After Schizophrenia: The Story of My Sister's Reawakening. She wrote about art for many years for the Chicago Sun-Times and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.