Ask a Bookseller: ‘Women of Good Fortune’ by Sophie Wan

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Click here. Mojade Adejokun of Paper Hearts Bookstore in Little Rock, Ark., recommends the novel “Women of Good Fortune” by Sophie Wan for your next fun summer read. Mojade describes the story as a heist that grows out of a group chat. You know the ridiculous things you text with your friends? In this case, a reluctant bride and her two best friends decide to follow through on their crazy idea to get money by stealing the cash envelopes from her lavish wedding. Lulu doesn’t love her husband-to-be, and her friends feel the money could transform their lives. One friend is determined that plastic surgery would make her prettier and therefore change her fortune. The other longs to have a child, but IVF is way out of her price range.  All they need to do is swap out the fancy boxes and thick red envelopes of wedding cash with fakes and they’re free! Right? “Throughout the story,” Mojade says, “the friends find out more about what they actually want and what they’re willing to do to get it. And if it’s at all worth it. It really is like the Sandra Bullock version of ‘Ocean’s Eight’: There’s twists and turns, and you bring in outside help, and there’s car chases! There’s a little bit of high intensity, but it’s still just a fun little story with a little bit of romance. But the biggest story of all is just the importance of friendship.”