C.J. Spataro is an award-winning short fiction writer whose work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies including Taboos & Transgressions, Iron Horse Literary Review, december, Sequestrum, and Exacting Clam. She directs the MFA in Creative Writing and the MA in Publishing programs at Rosemont College and was a founding partner of Philadelphia Stories. Her debut novel, More Strange Than True, was published by Sagging Meniscus Press in June 2024 and was recently named to Reactor’s Can’t Miss Indie Speculative Books for Spring.
At Electric Lit Spataro tagged eight "novels set in Philly with mostly happy endings," including:
The Blessings by Elise JuskaRead about the other entries on the list.
If I had to pick the most Philly book on this list, it would be a toss-up between The Blessings and Silver Linings Playbook. The Blessings is really a novel in stories, each chapter a different piece of the tapestry that is this large Irish-American-Catholic family. The Blessings are a close-knit clan and do their best to love and support each other, especially when times get tough. As close as they are, many of the Blessings also feel an uncomfortable amount of loneliness, wanting to find out who they are on their own, but always longing to be in the comforting company of the extended family. They’re all struggling to figure out not only how they fit into their family but the larger world.
--Marshal Zeringue