A review by retiredlibrarylady
The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood

3.0

A book about book clubs... or at least one, sponsored by a library (and the librarian is AMAZING). Our heroine, Ava, is a new member, newly left by her husband for another woman. The theme this year is "the book that mattered most" to you. She chooses "From Clare to here", which was an important book for her after her sister fell out of a tree and died. She announces that the author will attend the meeting at which they discuss the book. Meanwhile, her daughter Maggie alternates chapters (not my favorite literary device). She has left her studies in Florence to follow a boy to Paris, where she meets an older man who makes her a drug addict to suit his sexual slavery. In a ridiculously improbably turn of events, Ava's aunt is running the book store in Paris where Maggie finds refuge, that Aunt Beatrice is hiding the reality that Ava's mom didn't commit suicide back in the day but is also living in Paris... AND she turns out to be the author of From Clare to here AND was having an affair with the policeman who was investigating her daughter's death AND shows up for the book club discussion. Readable but improbable.