This beautiful new novel by the beloved author of Open House and Talk Before Sleep tells the story of two young people growing up in Mason, Missouri, and how Arthur Moses, a shy young man, becomes the wise and compassionate person readers loved in The Story of Arthur Truluv.
Nola McCollum is the most desirable girl in Arthur’s class, and he is thrilled when they become friends. But Arthur wants far more than friendship. Unfortunately, Nola has a crush on the wrong Moses—Arthur’s older brother, Frank, who is busy pursuing his own love interest and avoiding the boys’ father, a war veteran with a drinking problem and a penchant for starting fights. When a sudden tragedy rocks the family’s world, Arthur struggles to come to terms with his grief. In the end, it is nature that helps him to understand how to go on, beyond loss, and create a life of forgiveness and empathy. But what can he do about Nola, who seems confused about what she wants in life, and only half aware of the one who loves her most?
Full of unforgettable characters and written with Elizabeth Berg’s characteristic warmth, humor, and insight into people, Earth’s the Right Place for Love is about the power of kindness, character, and family, and how love can grow when you least expect it.
Elizabeth Berg is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Story of Arthur Truluv, Night of Miracles, The Confession Club, Open House (an Oprah’s Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Year of Pleasures, as well as the short story collection The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. She adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play that enjoyed sold-out performances in Chicago and Indianapolis. Berg’s work has been published in thirty-one countries, and three of her novels have been turned into television movies. She is the founder of Writing Matters, a quality reading series dedicated to serving author, audience, and community. She teaches one-day writing workshops and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. Some of her most popular Facebook postings have been collected in Make Someone Happy, Still Happy, and Happy to Be Here. She lives outside of Chicago.
“Elizabeth Berg is our Great American Storyteller. This wise and winning life/love story takes place in Missouri in the halcyon 1950s, when girls wore saddle shoes and boys bought the girls root beer floats. Shy Arthur Moses (who becomes Arthur Truluv) is in love with beautiful Nola McCollum, even though the popular girl has her cap set elsewhere and often. But Arthur, who takes his cues from the splendor of nature, is a perennial, and remains unwavering in his desire, despite life’s pain and unpredictability. If Earth’s the Right Place for Love, it is also the right place for humor, wisdom, and transcendence.”—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone
“This is a compassionate, witty, and delicate story about the people who find themselves on the sidelines and yet who manage—despite losses of their own—to be true to themselves and find their way. It’s a celebration of small communities and the small kindnesses that, bit by bit, change a life.”—Rachel Joyce, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Benson’s Beetle
“Few authors write with more heart, wisdom, and human insight than Elizabeth Berg. Do yourself a favor and dive in.”—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“This is a warm, generous, and utterly satisfying novel, and its characters are vibrantly, terrifically human. I read it raptly, rooting for them all from the first pages.”—Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
