The Moment of Everything

by Shelly King

Overview

In the tradition of The Cookbook Collector comes a funny, romantic novel about a young woman finding her calling while saving a used bookstore.

Maggie Duprv®s, recently "involuntarily separated from payroll" at a Silicon Valley startup, is whiling away her days in The Dragonfly's Used Books, a Mountain View institution, waiting for the Next Big Thing to come along.
When the opportunity arises for her to network at a Bay Area book club, she jumps at the chance-even if it means having to read Lady Chatterley's Lover, a book she hasn't encountered since college, in an evening. But the edition she finds at the bookstore is no Penguin Classics Chatterley-it's an ancient hardcover with notes in the margins between two besotted lovers of long ago. What Maggie finds in her search for the lovers and their fate, and what she learns about herself in the process, will surprise and move readers.
Witty and sharp-eyed in its treatment of tech world excesses, but with real warmth at its core, The Moment of Everything is a wonderful read.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455546794
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	09/02/2014
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Shelly King is a native Southerner who packed her bags and moved to Silicon Valley at the beginning of the Internet boom. She works for a major software company as a social media strategist and information architect. Her stories have been published in the GW Review, Epiphany, Slow Trains, the Dos Passos Review, and the Coe Review. She lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains with her husband, two big dogs, and a disapproving cat.

Editorial Reviews

"Anyone with a romantic streak and a soft spot for independent bookstores (and crabby cats) will want to curl up in a cozy corner with this sweet and tender novel."—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Shelly King's novel is any true book-lover's dream. Clever, honest, and satisfying, the book follows Maggie Dupres as she tries to find her way after being laid off from her Silicon Valley job. . . . I couldn't help but love 'The Moment of Everything.'"—The Baton Rouge Advocate

"One that gave this reader a few hours of smiles and pleasure. . . a great end to summer reading!"—Hudson Valley News

"Breezy, clever and at turns both touching and funny."—The Wichita Eagle

"King's charming debut will strike a chord with book lovers who have whiled away many an hour in a beloved local bookstore."—Booklist

"Sweet . . . the loving description of the classic used bookstore at the heart of the tale [is] described in such perfect detail, down to the musty scent. Readers may be inspired to run out and spend the afternoon in their own local shop."—Romantic Times magazine

"Shelly King has drawn up an exceptionally well-written book that has so much heart . . . There are enough twists and turns to keep you in suspense (and still in the dark) that you have to keep reading, telling yourself another 20 pages won't hurt."—http://oneticktobesick.blogspot.com/

"If the cast of Girls moved to the Silicon Valley and got tech jobs, if the correspondence in You've Got Mail took place in the pages of a used book, you might find The Moment of Everything at this hypercool intersection of retro appeal and modern smarts. Shelly King has drawn a perfect heroine for this very moment — snarky enough to make you laugh and yet satisfyingly full of hope and soul. Thoroughly rooted in the now, but achingly in love with the past, The Moment of Everything is a book lover's book — a warm-hearted illustration of the continuing relevance of books and bookstores in our modern culture that's sure to make readers fall in love."—Lydia Netzer, author of Shine, Shine, Shine and How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky

"Populated with an endearing, eccentric cast of characters, and told with sharp Southern humor, The Moment of Everything is a gift for those who believe in the magic of bookstores...and in the power of books."—Tracy Guzeman, author of The Gravity of Birds

"Shelly King is among my all-time favorite writers. Her prose brims with beauty and her plots always pack a well-earned punch."—Lolly Winston, author of Good Grief

"In Shelly King's charming novel, a young woman finds love letters in an old copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Her quest to discover their source leads her in and out of the many worlds of Silicon Valley, and the surprising twists and turns of love and self-discovery. We're the lucky readers who get to come along for this delightful ride. Ms. King writes with humor, passion and great intelligence."—Ellen Sussman, author of the New York Times bestselling novel French Lessons and The Paradise Guest House

From the Publisher

"In Shelly King's charming novel, a young woman finds love letters in an old copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Her quest to discover their source leads her in and out of the many worlds of Silicon Valley, and the surprising twists and turns of love and self-discovery. We're the lucky readers who get to come along for this delightful ride. Ms. King writes with humor, passion and great intelligence."

Ellen Sussman

"Shelly King is among my all-time favorite writers. Her prose brims with beauty and her plots always pack a well-earned punch."

Lolly Winston

"If the cast of Girls moved to the Silicon Valley and got tech jobs, if the correspondence in You've Got Mail took place in the pages of a used book, you might find The Moment of Everything at this hypercool intersection of retro appeal and modern smarts. Shelly King has drawn a perfect heroine for this very moment -- snarky enough to make you laugh and yet satisfyingly full of hope and soul. Thoroughly rooted in the now, but achingly in love with the past, The Moment of Everything is a book lover's book -- a warm-hearted illustration of the continuing relevance of books and bookstores in our modern culture that's sure to make readers fall in love."

Lydia Netzer

2014-08-14
A Silicon Valley woman's life is unexpectedly turned around by her love of books in this debut novel. "Books don't change people's lives, not like everyone thinks they do," Maggie Duprés states at the beginning of this book. In a way, she protests too much. Maggie got her master's in library science in South Carolina before high-tailing it to Silicon Valley with her best friend, Dizzy. Back home, Maggie's bookishness and Dizzy's homosexuality marked them as outsiders, but in Silicon Valley, they find success in the tech world, flying high until Maggie's job is outsourced to India. Hurt and unemployed, she turns to her guilty pleasure, romance novels, which she reads at Dragonfly Used Books alongside Hugo, her landlord and the Dragonfly's owner. When Dizzy invites Maggie to a book club of high-profile businesswomen, the meeting and the book—Lady Chatterly's Lover—mark a turning point. To impress Avi Narayan, the book club's founder, Maggie revamps the Dragonfly's sleepy sales model, infusing it with good business sense, good book sense and a boost from her copy of Lady Chatterly: love notes written between two unknown people in the margins. Maggie scans and posts the notes on social media, they go viral, and their mystery and passion begin to haunt Maggie. As the business takes off and a sultry love interest grabs her attention, Maggie must grapple with where she belongs. King packs many more twists and turns into this breezy novel, and Maggie's guardedness and flippancy make an enjoyable counterpoint to the unabashed community of misfits she discovers at the Dragonfly. This diverting read probably won't change anyone's life, but then again, books never do. Or do they?

Kirkus Reviews