Earth's the Right Place for Love

This beautiful 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.

“A poignant tale of love, grief, and the resiliency of the human spirit.”—Kirkus Reviews

A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Nola McCollum is the most desirable girl in Arthur Moses’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 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.


Genre: Literary Fiction

"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

"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

"Few authors write with more heart, wisdom, and human insight than Elizabeth Berg. Do yourself a favor and dive in." - Debbie Macomber

"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