The Landlady of Maple Avenue

(Hardback)

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Description

Winner of multiple book awards, THE LANDLADY OF MAPLE AVENUE is a poignant and humorous literary family saga inspired by true events. Set in the 1950s, it follows the aging Marceline Gillis, an immigrant mother of seven, as she plots to reclaim her position as the matriarch and rightful landlady of a Victorian house on Maple Avenue. Battling family tensions, disappointments, and the grief of losing loved ones, Marceline navigates the complexities of power, ownership, and legacy within her tight-knit Catholic family. Her journey is filled with heartache and determination as she seeks validation after a lifetime of hardship. Gillis demonstrates remarkable skill in bringing the complex dynamics of a mid-20th century immigrant family to life in a way that modern readers can easily connect with. Her sharp wit shines through in the dialogue between family members, creating moments of levity that balance perfectly with the more poignant aspects of the story, and every character felt so real like they'd jumped straight out of a time machine.

Reviews

Winner of Literary Global Book Awards Finalist - Historical Fiction
Winner of American Writing Awards Finalist - Fiction & Women's Fiction
Winner of Literary Titan Book Award - Literary Fiction
Winner of Reader's Favorite Award - Five Stars - Fiction & Literary Fiction

Author Bio

Suzanne Elizabeth Gillis is an Award Winning Author. She holds an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University NYC and a BA in Writing and Film from Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. She lives in the Boston area, where she grew up, and owns a website (scriptstories.com) where she helps non-writers develop story ideas for feature screenplays and TV series since 2007. THE LANDLADY OF MAPLE AVENUE is her first debut novel which has already won numerous awards. It was inspired by true stories about her father's immigrant family from Nova Scotia, Canada, who immigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts in the 1920s. She is currently completing her second novel, DR. TIGHTSKIN, a LGBTQ comedy based on her original screenplay UNDER MY SKIN.