Joanna Goodman Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Author Joanna Goodman was originally from Montreal, and lives in Toronto with her two kids and her husband. She owns Au Lit Fine Linens, which is a well known store for linens in Toronto, for which she is the Chief Executive Officer. Her and her husband run the place together.

Her work has appeared in places like The Ottawa Citizen, The Fiddlehead, Event, White Wall Review, B & A Fiction, and The New Quarterly.

One of the things that she enjoys about writing is that she gets to create all kinds of things out of thin air. At any time, she has story lines and people that wait on her to to write about them. She really enjoys getting lost in worlds she has created for hours.

“Belle of the Bayou” is a story that Joanna Goodman published. Arabella Boot goes on an odyssey to Lafayette, Louisiana so that she can find herself. She is married to a man named Roman, who wears Listermint for cologne and believes that foreplay is a golf term.

She catches him with her best friend on the very day she turns forty. She goes south to see Melba. This is a woman that ranks pretty high on the list of unbearable mothers in literature. Arabella has a hard time finding her independence around all of the eccentrics. One is a jazz musician (who is seventy and sexy), a palm reader (who also rides Harleys), and a hitchhiker (that carries a gun), and a stalker (that teaches karate); as well as many more.

“You Made Me Love You” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2005. The story is about three sisters that face choices in their lives that concern family, work, love, and ambition. Estelle Zarr has a mantra, which is to “Make it in Hollywood”. She got to Hollywood but has not achieved her dream of being a great film editor.

Her sister Erica resides in New York, who has gone through different enthusiasms. For now, she writes and lives with a big time New York novelist. Erica does not find much comfort in literary salon.

Jessie is in Toronto and has a perfect life at the young age of 21. She married a doctor and then had two kids. It is starting to fall apart for her.

Her mother even has doubts about choices she made. She feels that it might have been a mistake to put her marriage before the career she had in show business.

Goodman writes strong characters that readers feel like they get to know them and feel a bit of separation anxiety once they have finished reading the book. Fans of the novel found this to have a lot of hope, humor, and wisdom. This is an author with a great ear for writing strong dialogue, and is observant for the nuances of everyday life. Some were hooked from the start by this book, as it is brilliantly written and never fails to show the reader realistic views on love and relationships. The more they read, the more they got attached to the characters, feeling the things that they felt.

“Harmony” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2007. Anne Mahroum is a new mom and has been blessed with quite the loving husband, a new born baby, and a cushy life. She is not quite happy, however, as she has a hard time getting used to the fact that Evan (her son) has club feet.

She is full of shame and feels like a terrible mother over this; she begins obsessing about her mother, who took her away from her own place of birth when she was young. To make things weirder, she still will not say way she did so. She would like to meet her family and dad, and starts to look into the truth of her past. Anne does not really get the idea that the truth is something that may be more than she could ever want to know.

This book shows readers different stages of a life crises; it also shows the complicated world of unconditional love to readers. Fans of the novel found this to be a superb book that is a must read for anyone looking to read something much deeper than most books that are out there. It is a beautiful story that has been written eloquently. Some were hooked early on, and the book never let them go until they had finished the entire novel.

“The Finishing School” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2017. What lengths would you go to so that you could find out the truth? One night during spring of 1998, gorgeous Cressida Strauss jumps from a balcony on the fourth floor of Lycee Internationale Suisse and there are some dire consequences. Officials, because they do not want to bring negative press to the wealth and glamour of Europe or the establishment, call the whole thing a simple accident. Was she pushed or did Cressida try and kill herself? These questions still remain in the case.

She had a selfish streak, everyone knows this. She had just as many foes as friends at the school. For Kersti Kuusk, Cressida’s best friend, these are questions that remain for a long time after she leaves Lycee. She marries and has a career as a bestselling writer, but Cressida’s obsession with a secret and banned club (called Helvetian Society) nags her. A pair of the members were expelled and the club was banned long before they got to the school.

Kersti is invited to celebrate the Lycee’s centennial anniversary, she starts digging into the cover up. She finds an underbelly full of deceit and abuse at the establishment. She decides to link herself to Cressida forever, in a choice that makes the stakes that much higher in an attempt to redeem herself and solve the mystery.

Joanna’s books are hard to put down and examine everyday people going through serious problems in such a way that few authors know how to do. Fans of the novel felt this pulls back a curtain to show a awe inspiring world of dangerous secrets, lust, and betrayal. Here is a story that was written by a writer that understands how the world of the famous and rich really works. This novel is full of nothing but authenticity. Readers feel that they have become fans of this author’s work and will read anything that she decides to publish. Her work is that strong.