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Viola Shipman

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://www.violashipman.com

Twitter

viola_shipman

Genre

Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance

Member Since

December 2015

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***FRIED GREEN TOMATO MEETS VIRGIN RIVER!***

Dear Reader:

Welcome! I am the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of fifteen books that have been translated into nearly 25 languages. I write fiction under the pen name, Viola Shipman, as a tribute to my working poor Ozarks grandma, whose memory and love inspire my novels and inspired me to become a writer. My novels are a tribute to family and our elders and meant to inspire hope. My grandma used to say, "Life is as short as one blink of God's eye, but we too often forget what matters most in that blink." As a result, my novels remind readers of what matters most in life: Each other.
My new summer novel, FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN (yes, like the Miranda Lambert song!), publishes June 13 ***FRIED GREEN TOMATO MEETS VIRGIN RIVER!***

Dear Reader:

Welcome! I am the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of fifteen books that have been translated into nearly 25 languages. I write fiction under the pen name, Viola Shipman, as a tribute to my working poor Ozarks grandma, whose memory and love inspire my novels and inspired me to become a writer. My novels are a tribute to family and our elders and meant to inspire hope. My grandma used to say, "Life is as short as one blink of God's eye, but we too often forget what matters most in that blink." As a result, my novels remind readers of what matters most in life: Each other.
My new summer novel, FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN (yes, like the Miranda Lambert song!), publishes June 13 and is available for preorder now. I'm honored that it’s being compared to FRIED GREEN TOMATOES and that Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Virgin River, is raving about it. It is a beautiful story about finding the magic that lives within each of us, and I know it will touch your heart.
Growing up in the Ozarks, my grandmas were my best friends. I never considered them to be “old,” I thought of them in the same way I did my friends from school. We played board games, we read books, we baked together, we floated in inner tubes down the creek holding hands, we danced to Lawrence Welk, we laughed watching Happy Days.
To this day, I’ve always had friends who were much older than me. In fact, some of my dearest friends today are in their 80s. I also have friends much younger than me and am a godparent to teenagers. Like all good friends, we not only support each other through the good and bad, but we also push each other to dream big and be our best selves. We lend each other individual strengths to make the other whole and stronger. We fill in those missing gaps in our souls. We all keep each other young.

This novel celebrates intergenerational friendships, and why it’s important in life – and in society – to look at people not simply at face value but within their hearts. This book celebrates the fact that there is no age limit on friendship, new adventures, taking risks and becoming the person you always dreamed of being.

This book is also a celebration of women, especially women who have to overcome incredible obstacles and hardships – and often bad men – in their lives to protect their families and come into their own. Much like my grandmas, the women in this novel use ingenuity, hard work, faith, a love of the land and a love for one another to soldier on with grace, determination, resilience and open hearts.

This novel, as all my novels do, celebrates the beauty and wonder of Michigan and its bounty along with loads of lore, such as the famed Fata Morgana, illusions that appear over Lake Michigan (are they real or not?). FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN place in the storybook (and very real) small town of Good Hart, Michigan, along the storybook (and very real) Tunnel of Trees. This is a breathtaking stretch of road in which the trees grow so dense they canopy the road for miles, choking out the sunlight and offering stunning views at every twist and turn.

I also used the very real, very quaint and very historic Good Hart General Store as the foundation to create The Very Cherry General Store. There is no place more I love to visit in the summer or fall than this historic general store (look it up!).

If you are from Michigan, you begin to understand – in a very short time and especially in summer – that cherries are life. From a stop at a roadside stand to the very real Cherry Festival in Traverse City every year, this fruit is the cherry on top of Michigan. I love all things cherry, and it was a joy to bring them to life – history, recipes, lore – in this novel.
This novel started long ago on a summer vacation day in northern Michigan: I went to Cherry Republic, gorged on all things chocolate and cherry, and then – after a glass of wine – tried ...more

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Combine Editions
Viola Shipman’s books

Average rating: 3.93 · 51,250 ratings · 8,257 reviews · 21 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Secret of Snow 3.88 avg rating — 8,299 ratings — published 2021 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Charm Bracelet 3.83 avg rating — 7,681 ratings — published 2016 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Clover Girls 3.81 avg rating — 7,480 ratings — published 2021 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Summer Cottage 4.07 avg rating — 6,297 ratings — published 2019 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Recipe Box 3.82 avg rating — 5,910 ratings — published 2018 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Heirloom Garden 4.18 avg rating — 4,312 ratings — published 2020 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Edge of Summer 4.04 avg rating — 3,287 ratings — published 2022 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hope Chest 4.02 avg rating — 3,275 ratings — published 2017 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Wish for Winter 3.82 avg rating — 2,733 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Christmas in Tinsel Tree Village: A Holiday Novella 3.99 avg rating — 985 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Viola Shipman…

2 posts
Viola Shipman's Blog

Mother's Day

If you are like me and have lost your mother – I lost my mom in 2009 – Mother’s Day is a bittersweet holiday. I was very close to my mom, a nurse and hospice nurse, whose life was spent nurturing others. She was smart and headstrong but also incredibly funny and sweet. My brother died at the age of 17, when I was just 13, and somehow my mom – despite her overwhelming sorrow – never wavered in her Read more of this blog post »

11 likes · Like • 5 comments • flag

Published on May 09, 2018 09:07 • Tags: bestseller, books, cardinals, children, ermabombeck, faith, flowers, gardens, grandma, grandmothers, hummingbird, love, mom, mother-sday, novel, read, recipe

View all 2 posts »

Series by Viola Shipman

Heirloom (3 books)
by

Viola Shipman (Goodreads Author)

3.86 avg rating — 16,862 ratings

Quotes by Viola Shipman (?)

“Do what makes you happy. It sounds so simple and yet it's so hard, because few of us do. We live out of fear. We live for others, their hopes and expectations. We do what makes everyone else happy.”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

17 likes

“A Mother & Daughter's Love Is Never Separated”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: book-clubs, book-quote, charms, daughter, faith-quotes, family, inspirational, love, love-quotes, mother, mothers-and-daughters

12 likes

“The Snowflake Charm

Be As Unique As A Snowflake: Embrace All Your Dimensions”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: charm, charms, embrace-life, embrace-who-you-are, faith-quotes, love-quotes, snowflake, snowflakes, thecharmbracelet, unique, uniquely-you, uniqueness, uniqueness-of-individual

12 likes

See all Viola Shipman's quotes »

Polls

December BoTM Nominations ~ SNOW on Cover/In Title ~ 1st Poll

Top 5 Books Move Onto Final Poll

Rock Paper Scissors

by Alice Feeney

10 votes, 29.4%

The Secret of Snow

by Viola Shipman

6 votes, 17.6%

The Snow Child

by Eowyn Ivey

6 votes, 17.6%

Girls Made of Snow and Glass

by Melissa Bashardoust

3 votes, 8.8%

Moon of the Crusted Snow

by Waubgeshig Rice

3 votes, 8.8%

Snow

by John Banville

2 votes, 5.9%

Snowblind

by Ragnar Jónasson

1 vote, 2.9%

One More for Christmas

by Sarah Morgan

1 vote, 2.9%

Shattered Snow

by Rachel Huffmire

1 vote, 2.9%

The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation

by Elizabeth Letts

1 vote, 2.9%

34 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The History Book ...: READATHON - BREAK ONE - 6PM - April 23, 2016	23	18	Apr 23, 2016 06:36PM
The History Book ...: TWO - 2016 - Readathon Seven Date: April 23rd, 2016 - Noon to 4PM - Check-In - CHECKPOINT TWO - SECOND CHECK IN	41	33	Apr 24, 2016 06:41AM
The History Book ...: THREE - 2016 - Readathon Seven Date: April 23rd, 2016 - 4PM - 8PM - Check-In - CHECKPOINT THREE - THIRD CHECK IN	32	35	Apr 24, 2016 06:42AM
The History Book ...: SEVEN - CHECK OUT HERE - 2016 - Readathon Seven - April 23rd, 2016 - 8 AM ON APRIL 24TH - FINAL CHECKOUT - THIS IS CHECKPOINT SEVEN - WHICH IS CHECKOUT - LAST STOP - MANDATORY FOR TOTALS - FINAL TALLIES - MANDATORY CHECKPOINT - ONLY CHECK OUT THREAD	31	39	Apr 24, 2016 12:43PM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2016: Completed Tasks:PLEASE DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS THREAD	2947	508	May 31, 2016 09:02PM
Nothing But Readi...: Waiting for Wobble ~ RECOMMENDATIONS Weekend!	32	393	Jun 11, 2016 04:23AM
The Perks Of Bein...: Group Read-A-Thon July 2016	41	315	Aug 01, 2016 02:41AM
The History Book ...: ONE - START HERE - 2016 - Readathon Seven Date: April 23rd, 2016 - 8AM to Noon - Check-In - CHECKPOINT ONE - FIRST CHECK IN	69	207	Aug 12, 2016 06:32PM
Game Night: Seconds To Win Casual Scrabble	330	44	Dec 12, 2016 02:11PM

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Viola’s Quotes

“A Mother & Daughter's Love Is Never Separated”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: book-clubs, book-quote, charms, daughter, faith-quotes, family, inspirational, love, love-quotes, mother, mothers-and-daughters

12 likes

“The Hot Air Balloon Charm

Life Can Be Filled with Adventure If You Let Yourself Soar”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: adventure, charm-bracelet, charms, faith-quotes, family, inspirational-quotes, life-and-living, life-lessons, life-quotes, love, positive-quotes, positive-thinking, risk, risk-it

4 likes

“The Dragonfly Charm

Embrace The Magic of Nature & Life Will Be Filled with Good Fortune”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: daily-inspiration, daily-life, daily-motivation, daily-quotes, dragonflies, good-fortune, inspirational-quotes, life-philosophy, life-quotes, majic, nature

3 likes

“The Sewing Machine Charm

To A Life Bound by Family, The Thread That Ties Us All Together”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: daily-inspiration, daily-quotes, faith-quotes, family, inspirational-quotes, life-quotes, love-quotes, sew, sewing, sewing-machine, sewing-souls

6 likes

“The Kite Charm

For A Life Filled with High-Flying Fun, Play with the Wonder of A Child”
― Viola Shipman, The Charm Bracelet

tags: childern, children, family, grandchildren, grandma, joyful-living, joyful-living-quotes, kite, life-and-living-life-and-love, love-quotes, wonder

6 likes

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Viola Shipman’s Followers (2,361)

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Viola’s Friends (30)

Viola Shipman

Goodreads Author

Learn more
Ask the Author

Popular Answered Questions

Combine Editions
Viola Shipman’s books

2 posts
Viola Shipman's Blog

Mother's Day

Series by Viola Shipman

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Viola’s Quotes

Viola’s Friend Comments