Small Blessings: A Novel by Martha Woodroof
Martha Woodroof is a local radio personality, a familiar name and voice to listeners of WMRA, the local NPR affiliate in our area. I know her because she interviewed me for her show, “The Spark,” and because we’ve met a few times for lunch to talk about writing and creativity. (You can listen to her interview me here.)
Now, Martha is also a novelist. Her first novel, Small Blessings, has been published by St. Martin’s Press, and I had the pleasure of attending her book launch at Stone Soup Books in Waynesboro, a great place for a book party (although small) because of the cafe that serves good food and drink. I haven’t yet read the book, which based on what Martha read from it at the party centers on Rose Callahan, a woman who arrives on a small college campus (based on Sweetbriar, Martha admits) to run the bookshop’s cafe. Just from the first few pages, we get an air of intrigue–who is this mysterious woman, and which male faculty members are going to make fools of themselves pursuing her?
I have a feeling–if only because of who was present at the book launch (I was the only man)–that the book’s appeal will mostly be to women. But I look forward to reading it. Martha is a fun person and I expect the prose to be the same. I wish her the best with her first novel!