Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

Book Summary and Reviews of Golden State by Michelle Richmond

Golden State by Michelle Richmond

Golden State

A Novel

by Michelle Richmond

  • Published:
  • Feb 2014, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

Paperback Original

Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Anna Quindlen, Golden State is a powerful, mesmerizing new novel that explores the intricacies of marriage, family, and the profound moments that shape our lives.
 
Doctor Julie Walker has just signed her divorce papers when she receives news that her younger sister, Heather, has gone into labor. Though theirs is a strained relationship, Julie sets out for the hospital to be at her sister's side--no easy task, as the streets of San Francisco have erupted into chaos. Today is the day that Californians vote on whether or not to secede from the United States. Today is also the day that Julie will find herself at the epicenter of a violent standoff in which she is forced to examine both the promising and painful parts of her past--her Southern childhood; her romance with her husband, Tom; her estrangement from Heather; and the shattering incident that led to her greatest heartbreak.
 
Infused with emotional depth and poignancy, Golden State takes readers on a journey over the course of a single, unforgettable day--through an extraordinary landscape of love, loss, and hope.

Author Q&A and Discussion Guide

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Mesmerizing and intricate... [a] riveting read that can be recommended to fans of Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard." - Booklist

"A breathtaking read and one I'll not soon forget." - Melanie Benjamin, author of The Aviator's Wife

"I haven't read such a gripping, bittersweet, moving novel in ages. Golden State sweeps you up, whisks you away, and doesn't let you go till the very end. Michelle Richmond, author of the unforgettable The Year of Fog, does it again." - Tatiana de Rosnay, author of Sarah's Key
 
"This is the kind of book you want to read slowly, but instead you read it in a mad rush to find out where this incredibly talented writer is taking you." - Ann Packer, author of Swim Back to Me
 
"So imaginative, so heartfelt—a masterly braid of memory and urgency. Richmond is in top form, and has made a book of exquisite grace." - Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells

"Dazzlingly smart and moving, Golden State doesn't just shine, it blazes." - Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You

This information about Golden State was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Michelle Richmond Author Biography

Michelle Richmond is the author of the award-winning story collection The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress, the novels Dream of the Blue Room and No One You Know, and the New York Times and international bestseller The Year of Fog. Her new novel, Golden State, will be published in February, 2014. Her new story collection, Hum, winner of the Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize, will be also be published in 2014.

Richmond has received the Hillsdale Award for Fiction from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Associated Writing Programs Award, and the Mississippi Review Fiction Prize. Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, the Oxford American, Salon, Playboy, The Guardian, The Believer, Best American Fantasy, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, and many magazines ...

... Full Biography
Link to Michelle Richmond's Website

Other books by Michelle Richmond at BookBrowse
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Book of George
    The Book of George
    by Kate Greathead
    The premise of The Book of George, the witty, highly entertaining new novel from Kate Greathead, is ...
  • Book Jacket: The Sequel
    The Sequel
    by Jean Hanff Korelitz
    In Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Sequel, Anna Williams-Bonner, the wife of recently deceased author ...
  • Book Jacket: My Good Bright Wolf
    My Good Bright Wolf
    by Sarah Moss
    Sarah Moss has been afflicted with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa since her pre-teen years but...
  • Book Jacket
    Canoes
    by Maylis De Kerangal
    The short stories in Maylis de Kerangal's new collection, Canoes, translated from the French by ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

He who opens a door, closes a prison

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.