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Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club pick announced for April – and we can’t wait to read

The actor has selected ‘The Most Fun We Ever Had’ by Claire Lombardo for April’s pick

Daisy Lester
Wednesday 03 April 2024 12:45 BST
Reece Witherspoon started her book club in 2017
Reece Witherspoon started her book club in 2017 (Getty/iStock/The Independent)

It all started with Oprah’s Book Club in 1996. Now, everyone from Dua Lipa and Graham Norton to Kai Gerber and Dakota Johnson share and discuss their favourite books online. Queen Oprah aside, the most popular of all is Reese Witherspoon’s book club.

The actor has been recommending books monthly since 2017, both to her 30.2 million followers on Instagram and the 2.5 million loyal subscribers of Reese’s Book Club. The varied selection spans thrillers, romances, beach reads, historical fiction and more, meaning there really is something for everyone. And while there’s no particular formula to choosing the books, the only criterion is that a woman must be at the centre of the story.

Not only has the club brought female authors and stories to the forefront (her selects often make The New York Times bestseller lists), but it’s also shaken up the TV and film scene. From Big Little Lies to Where the Crawdads Sing and Daisy Jones & The Six, many of Reece’s picks have been adapted for the screen through her production company, Hello Sunshine.

The Reese Book Club’s pick for April 2024 sounds as gripping as ever. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo is a rich and complex family saga, beginning with a couple falling in love in the Seventies and following them until 2016 when their four radically different daughters are each in a state of turmoil. Here’s everything you need to know.

‘The Most Fun We Ever Had’ by Claire Lombardo, published by Doubleday: £9.18, Amazon.co.uk

(Amazon)

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019, Claire Lombardo’s family saga follows Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson, who fall in love in the 1970s. Decades later, the couple have four daughters who are each in a state of unrest. Wendy is widowed and dependent on alcohol; Violet is a stay-at-home mum with anxiety; Liza is a professor who finds herself pregnant with a man she doesn’t love; Grace is the youngest daughter who’s keeping a secret from her family.

When a teenager arrives who was placed for adoption by one of the daughters 15 years previously, the family grapple with years of angst, infidelity, resentment and secrets. The character-driven tome throws you deep into the complicated family story.

“This book truly feels like you’re a fly on the wall watching a real family interact,” Reece Witherspoon said.

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