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The Girl Who Chased the Moon Summary and Reviews

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

A Novel

by Sarah Addison Allen

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen X
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
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  • Published Mar 2010
    288 pages
    Genre: Literary Fiction

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Book Summary

In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world—no matter how out of place they feel.

Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother's life. Such as, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? And why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew—a reclusive, real-life gentle giant—she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.

Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes—which is a good thing, because Julia can’t seem to stop baking them. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also in the hope of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Flour, eggs, milk, and sugar ... Baking is the only language the proud but vulnerable Julia has to communicate what is truly in her heart. But is it enough to call back to her those she’s hurt in the past?  
 
Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in. 

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"There are love interests, big family secrets, and magical happenings...aplenty as Allen charts the spiraling inter-generational stories, bringing everything together in an unexpected way." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Allen's warm characters and quirky setting are what will completely open readers' hearts to this story. Nothing in it disappoints." - Library Journal

This information about The Girl Who Chased the Moon was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Kenzie

Amazing!
I love this book- I just finished it and I’m in awe. Sarah’s ability to incorporate such a whimsical magical realism is fantastic to me! The characters, relationships, and plot are all both intriguing and emotion-filled. I always want to know what is going to happen next, and this book had me read front to back in a day. I loved it.

loneranger

Magical read
The girl who chased the moon was a wonderful read-heart warmingly wonderful. This is one of those books that can really make you forget your day-to-day troubles and when you are done reading,it will still leave you with a warm afterglow of hope

meme

The girl who chased the moon
This book was good except for the "BIG SECRET" I thought that was ridiculous. However it was an interesting read and I would like to know if there is a sequel which shows the daughter reunited with her birth mother and father.

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Author Information

Sarah Addison Allen Author Biography

Photo: Melissa Markis

New York Times bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Sarah grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). In college, she majored in literature.

After graduation, her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells, a modern-day fairy tale about an enchanted apple tree and the family of North Carolina women who tend it.

After publishing four bestselling books in five years, Sarah took a hiatus when she was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer at age 39. She returned to writing with her 2014 bestselling Lost Lake. She is now in ...

... Full Biography
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