Viola Shipman's "The Charm Bracelet," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Charm Bracelet: A Novel by Viola Shipman.

The entry begins:

Oh, every author dreams about this, whether they're having a brain-freeze in the middle of a page, or having drinks with friends. It's also a big question authors get at events and book clubs. The Charm Bracelet would make a compelling film and a great vehicle for three generations of actresses. In short, the novel is about how the charms on a grandmother's bracelet reconnect her in this too-busy age with her daughter and granddaughter and remind them of what's most important in life: Family, friends, faith, fun, love and a passion for what you do. The book was inspired by my grandmothers' charms, life and lessons, and is written under one of their names as a tribute to the women who made me who I am today.

Lolly Lindsey is the bigger-than-life, wig-wearing matriarch of the family, who still collects charms, lives in the resort town of Scoops, Michigan, and draws tourists into the local fudge shop by singing Hello, Dolly in full costume. Now 70, Lolly is battling dementia and knows time is running out to reconnect with a daughter and granddaughter whose lives have become too busy for her and her family stories. Lolly is based on my grandmothers, and I learned through their charms that they were women who had led lives filled with incredible love, loss, hope and tragedy. Her daughter, Arden, works for the Chicago celebrity magazine Paparazzi, editing and writing code for the magazine’s website. While she is not content with her job, she spends many hours working, knowing that she must pay college tuition for her daughter, Lauren, an artist who is majoring in business solely to please her mother. The three women are reunited over Memorial Weekend, and their lives are changed through Lolly's unfettered desire to live in the moment and share the stories of their lives via the charms on her bracelet.

I have a lot of great actresses in mind for the three Lindsey ladies. I would love to see Shirley MacLaine as Lolly, or Lily...[read on]

Visit Viola Shipman's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Charm Bracelet.

--Marshal Zeringue