October’s Latest Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Picks

Hello Sunshine was founded by Reese Witherspoon, with the intention of creating a media company that focused on female driven and centered stories, through film, television, social and audio channels. Each month, Reese picks new book for the ‘Reese’s Book Club’ division exclusively focusing on work authored by women, from a variety of backgrounds and cultures across the globe. The book club recently expanded to include one Young Adult pick monthly, alongside the usual features. Beginning in July 2017, Reese’s Book Club quickly became a highly respected recommendation for authors, publishers and readers alike. It has now recommended around forty-four books.

The stories featured are varied and complex, scaling a multitude of genres and topics. The company has also produced several TV series and films, many of which have been nominated for awards, including major films such as ‘Wild’ and ‘Gone Girl’. Many of the series have derived from these book picks including the limited series starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon: Little Fires Everywhere adapted from the book by Celeste Ng of the same name. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is set to be made into a movie, recently announcing Daisy Edgar-Jones as the lead.

Here are the latest books to be selected for Reese’s Book Club for October 2020:

His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

Peace Adzo Medie is a Ghanaian writer and award-winning scholar, working as a senior lecturer in Gender and International Politics at the University of Bristol in England and holding a PHD in public and international affairs. Alongside a Reese’s Book Club Pick, the title has been selected for A New York Times Editors’ Choice and Marie Claire’s October Book Club Pick. Medie’s website outlines the book’s blurb as thus:

‘Afi Tekple is a young seamstress whose life is narrowing rapidly. She lives in a small town in Ghana with her widowed mother, spending much of her time in her uncle Pious’s house with his many wives and children. Then one day she is offered a life-changing opportunity—a proposal of marriage from the wealthy family of Elikem Ganyo, a man she doesn’t truly know. She acquiesces, but soon realizes that Elikem is not quite the catch he seemed. He sends a stand-in to his own wedding, and only weeks after Afi is married and installed in a plush apartment in the capital city of Accra does she meet her new husband. It turns out that he is in love with another woman, whom his family disapproves of; Afi is supposed to win him back on their behalf. But it is Accra that eventually wins Afi’s heart and gives her a life of independence that she never could have imagined for herself.’

Every book club pick is promoted on Hello Sunshine’s various channels for the month. Reese reads the books herself, giving an exclusive summary. For His Only Wife she says: ‘Reading takes us all over the world, and this month we are traveling to modern-day Ghana with our October book pick, His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie. Culture, heroism and the search for independence are just a few of the wonderful themes in this vibrant book.’

Fable by Adrienne Young

Adrienne Young is the author of Sky in the Deep a New York Times Bestseller, and lives in California. Fable is the first book in a planned duology. On the Barnes and Noble website, the book’s blurb summarizes the narrative:

‘As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father. But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.’

Fable is the second young adult title to be selected for the book club picks. September saw the first title from a young adult author, Leah Johnson, entitled: You Should See me in a Crown. On Fable, Reese commented: ‘Trader, fighter, survivor. My new bio! Haha! JK… it’s my YA book pick. The incredible page-turner is a high sea, pirate adventure called Fable by Adrienne Young. Prepare yourself for a wonderful adventure of a young courageous woman named Fable who is tougher than any pirate you have ever met.’