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BookSparks Pop Up Blog Tour: Arboria Park by Kate Tyler Wall


BookSparks Pop Up Blog Tour


"The moment I learned about the power of place and the world beyond home, I was crouching on the cement curb in front of our house on Arbor Circle."

Poignant and sentimental, Kate Tyler Wall's novel about a housing development and its inhabitants throughout the decades is moving and thoughtfully written.


Arboria Park is probably like many other housing developments of its time, but what makes it most interesting is the people who live there. From an early age Stacy Holloran took an interest in the origins and development of the place she lived. Riding her bicycle around her neighborhood as a young girl, she explored the houses and observed the people of Arboria Park. It's where she witnesses heartbreak, experiences teenage firsts, falls in love with music and spends time with her family. Arboria Park is home, but now a highway project threatens to destroy the housing development she loves.

This character driven novel is well paced, following Stacy as she matures from a child desperate to break free of her cul de sac, through her teenage and adult years. And as Stacy grows up and changes, so does Arboria Park. What was once a predominantly white neighborhood diversifies in a way that opens Stacy's eyes to an ever changing world.

Kate Tyler Wall creates a moving narrative about family, childhood homes and the hold they can have over us. This novel creates a sense of nostalgia for the reader and slightly reminiscent of Anne Tyler's similarly family themed novel, A Spool of Blue Thread. For fans of fiction that chronicles families through generations, this is for you.

About Arboria Park

 Stacy Halloran has lived most of her life in 1950s-era housing development Arboria Park. But her beloved neighborhood may not survive much longer.

Despite her parents’ entreaties to “stay in the yard where it’s safe,” the Park is where young Stacy roams in quest of “real life.” Through her wanderings, she learns about the area’s agricultural history; meets people from backgrounds different than her own; watches her siblings develop interracial and same-sex relationships; helps launch the local punk-rock scene; and finally, settles as a wife and mother. As the neighborhood declines (along with her relationship with her mother), Stacy considers moving on to rescue herself and her daughter. But then a massive highway project threatens the ever-resilient Park―and it’s Stacy’s task to rally family, friends, and neighbors to save it


Buy It

 Thank you to the amazing team at BookSparks for sending me a copy of this wonderful book to review!

1 comment

  1. Thank you for the lovely review! Feel free to stop by katetylerwall.com for more on the place, times, and other inspirations for the book, as well as a chapter-by-chapter guide that can be used for book clubs or just for fun!

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