Reese Witherspoon's book club has a gift for picking the novel everyone is talking about by Thanksgiving. Its November pick is The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders, and it might be the perfect book to read while you are surrounded by your own family this month.
"This novel about family and tradition is the perfect read to bring home for the holidays," Reese said of the pick.
What it is about
The publisher's description opens with a line that hooked us immediately: "The dead are relentless gossips, or at least these dead are."
At 32, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling through adulthood. She is an underpaid gig worker in Washington, DC, grieving the end of a serious relationship and the recent loss of her father. Then she learns she has inherited his share of a sizable Tennessee farm. She sees a way out of the city and out of her mounting debt.
Watching her arrival with great interest are four ghosts: Aubrey's ancestors. They have their own claims to the farm, and they never hesitate to judge the living for their romantic, financial or fashion mistakes.
Running alongside Aubrey's story is the history of the land itself, starting with its purchase by her great-grandfather, Thomas, one of the first Black landowners in his community. He hoped to give his children a homestead where they could thrive, but the land turns the Lambs against one another over the decades. Now, with a possible sale looming, the ghosts fear losing the only home they have, and Aubrey has to weigh her family's hopes against her own future.
Why it is a great book club pick
It has everything a good discussion needs: inheritance fights, buried family secrets, grief, a little romance and a wry, funny narrative voice. It is also a story about how we define ourselves through and against our families, which is a conversation most of us have in our heads every holiday season.
This is not a brand-new release. It came out July 7 and was named a most anticipated book of summer by outlets including NPR, People, Oprah Daily and Real Simple. It was also a July Book of the Month pick. Reese's selection is giving it a second, bigger moment.
About the author
Shannon Sanders wrote the linked story collection Company, which won the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes' Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. The Great Wherever is her first novel. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and three sons.
Where to buy it
The hardcover is 416 pages from Henry Holt, with a list price of $29.99.
- Barnes & Noble: $26.99 in hardcover when we checked, 10% off list
- Hudson Booksellers: $29.99, if you would rather support a bookstore
You can also follow along with discussion and extras at Reese's Book Club.
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Our take
If your book club has been reading a lot of thrillers, this is a lovely change of pace: warm, funny and sad in all the right places. And at 416 pages, it is a perfect long-weekend read for Thanksgiving. Bring it home for the holidays, just like Reese said, and maybe leave a copy for your mom.
