With rain dripping down now and a similar forecast for several more hours, the weather makes a book review of âFifty Words for Rainâ an appropriate topic for this week.
My friend from the Asheville conference, Cynthia Sample, recommended âFifty Words,â the first novel for Asha Lemmie, a Virginia native reared in Maryland who graduated from Boston College with a degree in English literature and creative writing. She lives in New York City where she works in book publishing. The âGood Morning Americaâ Book Club chose Lemmieâs book as its September 2021 âpick.â
Lemmie, a voracious reader, began writing the first three chapters when she was 16. In her childhood Lemmie spent Sundays in libraries where librarians guided her to books and encouraged her reading. In an interview she called libraries âso importantâ to her development as a writer; books that influenced her, especially in their treatment of sibling relationships, included