The Confession Club

Berg (The Story of Arthur Truluv) returns to Mason, Mo., for this feel-good testament to taking risks, falling in love, and reinvention. Here, the focus is on the irrepressible members of a monthly club of eight women ranging in age from 20s to 80s, who bare their fibs, sins, and shame. “They knew they were mostly silly,” Berg writes. “They enjoyed being silly, because sometimes you just needed to take a load off.” The heart of this story belongs to cooking school teacher Iris, who’s “coming into my fifties,” divorced and childless when she falls in love with John, 66, a homeless Vietnam vet still haunted by the war and the wife and child he left behind. Berg effortlessly wraps her arms around this busy universe of quirky characters with heartbreaking secrets and unflagging faith. “We forget how ready people are to help,” 47-year-old “stout and practical” club member Toots says, adding: “To say those words to yourself or another, ‘I forgive you’? Most powerful words in the world.” Readers new to Berg’s Mason will be dazzled by this bright and fascinating story, and fans will be cheering for the next volume set there. [em]Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME Entertainment. (Nov.) [/em]