“With warmth, heart, and hilarity, Marie Bostwick dazzles….” — Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author

Marie Bostwick is a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller of heartwarming fiction for women. Published in 2005 by Kensington Books, Fields of Gold, her first novel, was a finalist for the prestigious Oklahoma Book Award and for RT BOOKclub magazine’s Best Historical Saga Award. River’s Edge won the Golden Quill Award, was a finalist for a National Readers’ Choice Award and was an alternate selection of the Literary Guild.

Her novellas, A High-Kicking Christmas and The Presents of Angels, were included, respectively, in the holiday anthologies Comfort and Joy and Snow Angels, and appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Her novels The Second Sister and Between Heaven and Texas were both USA Today bestsellers. A film adaptation of her book The Second Sister, “Christmas Everlasting,” debuted on the Hallmark Channel as a Hallmark Hall of Fame feature in November 2018, starring Patti LaBelle

Marie’s novels have been translated into eleven different languages. Her book, The Restoration of Celia Fairchild, was published by William Morrow in March, 2021. Her book, Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly, was released by the same publisher in May of 2022.

Drawing on her lifelong love of quilting and themes of special relevance to modern women, Marie’s Cobbled Court Quilt series has gained a dedicated following among quilters as well as those who’ve never threaded and needle and don’t plan to try. The first book in the series, A Single Thread, published in 2008, and is now in its eighteenth printing.

That book, as well the third book in the series, A Thread So Thin, and her 2018 standalone novel, Hope on the Inside, were included in Reader’s Digest Select Editions. A Thread of Truth (2009) was named an “Indie Next Notable” book by the members of the Independent Bookseller’s Association. Ties that Bind was named Best Mainstream Novel of 2012 by RT BOOK Reviews Magazine. In 2014, Marie was recognized for Career Achievement in Mainstream Novels by the same organization. Her most recent book, The Book Club for Troublesome Women (April 2025), is a novel about ambitious women and the mentors that inspired them to excellence.

In addition to books, Marie writes a popular lifestyle blog, Fiercely Marie, that encourages women to “live every minute and love every moment”.

Marie lives in Washington state with her Brad, and their moderately spoiled Cavalier King Charles spaniel. When not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, every fiber craft imaginable, and spending time with family and friends. Marie travels extensively, speaking at libraries, conferences, bookstores, and quilt guilds.

Marie's Featured Titles

The Book Club for Troublesome Women

Harper Muse |
Women’s Fiction

“This is a novel about ambitious women and the mentors that inspired them to excellence . . . Bostwick carves an unforgettable path for her characters.”–Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone

Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club . . . or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb.

By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman’s dream. She has a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia–one of Northern Virginia’s most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman’s Place–a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn’t that feel like enough?

Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia’s newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte’s orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women–Bitsy and Viv–to the inaugural meeting. As the women share secrets, cocktails, and their honest reactions to the controversial bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they begin to discover that the American dream they’d been sold isn’t all roses and sunshine–and that their secret longing for more is something they share. Nicknaming themselves the Bettys, after Betty Friedan, these four friends have no idea their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments–and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a humorous, thought provoking, and nostalgic romp through one pivotal and tumultuous American year–as well as an ode to self-discovery, persistence, and the power of sisterhood.

Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly: A Novel

William Morrow Paperbacks |
Fiction

From the author of The Restoration of Celia Fairchild, comes a novel about the meaning of family and the places we call home. If you love “southern summer” fiction authors like Mary Alice Monroe and Kristy Woodson Harvey you’ll love this delicious novel about family, friendship, and finding your true path in life. 

Esme Cahill thinks she has failed spectacularly: fired from her New York City publishing job, divorced from her husband, and possessing little more than a broken-down car and a pile of unfinished manuscripts, she drives home to Asheville at the request of her late grandmother, Adele, who had begged her, just before she died, to return to the place she grew up.

There she discovers the once-charming lakeside retreat run by her family is sliding toward financial ruin, so with the help of her grandfather, George; estranged mother, Robyn; and a travelling chef Dawes (maker of the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich) they set to work. In the attic, Esme unearths a trove of museum-worthy art quilts, sewn by Adele. Piecing together the inspiration behind them, Esme discovers a forgotten chapter in her family history and her grandmother’s untold story, that of a gifted artist who never received her due.

This is an always-emotional, sometimes humorous, very human novel of what it means to be family—the ties that bind us together and the unintentional hurts that can rend us apart. And, along the way, Esme learns that failure can be the first step toward the life you’re meant to find.

The Restoration Of Celia Fairchild

William Morrow Paperbacks |
Novel

The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is wise, witty, and utterly compelling.” —Jane Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Friends We Keep

Evvie Drake Starts Over meets The Friday Night Knitting Club in this wise and witty novel about a fired advice columnist who discovers lost and found family members in Charleston, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Second Sister.

Celia Fairchild, known as advice columnist ‘Dear Calpurnia’, has insight into everybody’s problems – except her own. Still bruised by the end of a marriage she thought was her last chance to create a family, Celia receives an unexpected answer to a “Dear Birthmother” letter. Celia throws herself into proving she’s a perfect adoptive mother material – with a stable home and income – only to lose her job. Her one option: sell the Charleston house left to her by her recently departed, estranged Aunt Calpurnia.

Arriving in Charleston, Celia learns that Calpurnia had become a hoarder, the house is a wreck, and selling it will require a drastic, rapid makeover. The task of renovation seems overwhelming and risky. But with the help of new neighbors, old friends, and an unlikely sisterhood of strong, creative women who need her as much as she needs them, Celia knits together the truth about her estranged family — and about herself.

The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is an unforgettable novel of secrets revealed, laughter released, creativity rediscovered, and waves of wisdom by a writer Robyn Carr calls “my go-to author for feel-good novels.”

Hope On The Inside

Kensington |
Novel

In this compelling, heartwarming novel from New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick, one woman finds new purpose in a new phase of life . . .

“Whatever comes your way, find the happiness in it.” Hope Carpenter received that advice from her mother decades ago. Now, with their four children grown, Hope and her husband, Rick, are suddenly facing an uncertain future, after a forced retirement strains both their savings and their marriage. Seeking inspiration and a financial boost, Hope gets a job teaching crafts to inmates at a local women’s prison.

At first, Hope feels foolish and irrelevant, struggling to relate to women whose choices seem so different from her own. But with time, and the encouragement of the prison chaplain, she begins to discover common ground with the inmates, in their worries about their children and families, their fear of having failed those who need them. Just like her, they want to make something of themselves, but believe it might be impossible.

Embarking on an ambitious quilting project, Hope and her students begin to bond. Together, piece by piece, they learn to defy expectations—their own and others’—and to see that it’s never too late to stitch together a life that, even in its imperfections, is both surprising and beautiful.

Just in Time

Kensington |
Novel

In her most powerful novel yet, New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick weaves the uplifting story of three grief support group dropouts—women united in loss and rescued through friendship.

Fifteen years ago, Grace Saunders vowed to take her beloved husband for better or worse. Now she’s coming to terms with difficult choices as she crafts a memory quilt from scraps of their life together—a life torn to shreds by an accident that has left him in a coma. Enduring months of limbo, Grace is at least not alone.

Nan has been widowed for twenty years, but now, with her children grown, her home feels painfully empty. Even the company of her golden retriever, Blixen, and a series of other rescue dogs, can’t fill the void. Then there’s Monica, a feisty woman with a biting wit who’s reeling following her husband’s death—and the revelation of his infidelity.

As for Grace, a chance evening with a man she barely knows brings a glimmer of joy she hasn’t felt since the tragedy—along with feelings of turmoil and guilt. But her struggle to cope will force all three women to face their fears, share their deepest secrets—and lean on one another as they move from grief and isolation to hope, and a second chance at happiness . . .

The Second Sister

Kensington |
Novel

From New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick comes an emotionally rich, inspiring novel about family, second chances—and the connections that bring women together in hope and healing…

Years of long workdays and little sleep as a political campaigner are about to pay off now that Lucy Toomey’s boss is entering the White House. But when her estranged older sister, Alice, unexpectedly dies, Lucy is drawn back to Nilson’s Bay, her small, close-knit Wisconsin hometown.

An accident in her teens left Alice mentally impaired, and she was content to stay in Nilson’s Bay. Lucy, meanwhile, got out and never looked back. But now, to meet the terms of Alice’s eccentric will, Lucy has taken up temporary residence in her sister’s cottage—and begins to see the town, and Alice’s life, anew. Alice’s diverse group of friends appears to have little in common besides an interest in quilting. Yet deep affection for Alice united them and soon Lucy, too, is brought into the fold as they share problems and stories. And as she finds warmth and support in this new circle, Lucy begins to understand this will be her sister’s enduring gift—a chance to move beyond her difficult past, and find what she has long been missing…

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The Nearly Forgotten Book That Changed My Mother's Life, And Yours

A few people still vaguely remember Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique. Fewer still have actually read it. But when my mom, a homemaker with four kids and a nagging sensation that something was either wrong with the world or wrong with her, read it back in 1963, it changed her life. She wasn’t alone. Friedan’s book resonated with millions of women like my mother. In turn, those women helped kickstart the modern women’s movement, paving a path that led to rights and opportunities many of us take for granted today.

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Reading The Feminine Mystique Changed My Mother's Life, and Our Relationship

In 1963, my now 91-year-old mother was a homemaker with four kids and a nagging sensation that something was either wrong with her or wrong with the world. Upon reading The Feminine Mystique, she decided it was the latter. Reading Betty Friedan’s groundbreaking book for myself while researching The Book Club for Troublesome Women, a novel inspired by a conversation with my mom, gave me a greater respect for all that she and her generation endured in the fight for equality, and a deeper appreciation for how much better my life is because of it.

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Reading Books and Living Life - Together

A piece about the history, rise, and ongoing popularity of book clubs, and how they help women explore ideas and find the community they desperately need – just like they do for the characters in my novel, The Book Club for Troublesome Women

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8 Rights You Take For Granted That Women Could Only Dream of in 1963

Getting a credit card. Obtaining contraception. Serving on a jury. Playing sports.  These are just a few examples of activities that women of today engage in without a second thought. Yet in 1963, the year that Betty Friedan published her groundbreaking book, The Feminine Mystique, American women would have faced hurdles doing these and many other things the current generation takes for granted.

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Books Can Change Lives, and Society. Just Ask My Mother

Reading The Feminine Mystique back in 1963 changed my mother’s life, and the lives of countless other women, helping to kickstart the modern women’s movement. But that’s just one example of the impact of books on people and society. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Jungle, Silent Spring. These and many other books alerted readers to society’s ills and started movements to enact change.

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WASP Who Won the War: Women's Air Service Pilots

Based on extensive research done for her Oklahoma Book Award nominated novel, Fields of Gold, Marie discusses the fascinating, little-known history and contributions of the Women’s Air Service Pilots during the second World War.

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Special Characters with Special Needs

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Quilt Guilds and Quilt Shows

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When the Going Gets Tough: The Tough Turn to Quilting

Download reviews of each of Marie’s books.

Quilt Patterns

Recipes

Excerpts

Honors, Awards & Recognition

RT Book Reviews Best Mainstream Novel nominee (2013) for BETWEEN HEAVEN AND TEXAS
RT Book Reviews Reader’s Choice Award nominee, Best Historical Fiction, ON WINGS OF THE MORNING
RT Book Reviews Reader’s Choice Award winner (2012), Best Mainstream Novel, TIES THAT BIND
RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award in Mainstream Fiction (2014).

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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