I learned a lot from this book. I wasn’t familiar with the Mississippi River shantyboat people and what their lives were like.
And though I knew of the existence of orphanages, both good and bad, I’d never had a real understanding of what the lives of children were like in facilities such as The Tennessee Children’s Home, where children were commodities to be bought and sold. I ran the gamut of emotions while reading about Rill and her sisters and their lives before and after growing up on a river boat and their stay in the children’s home.
A gripping story of loss and the unbreakable bond between sisters, Before We Were Yours is Lisa Wingate’s best novel so far!
THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT—Over two million copies sold! A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller
“Poignant, engrossing.”—People • “Lisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation’s history and weaves a tale of enduring power.”—Paula McLain
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage,…
I’ve always been fascinated by beekeeping and this lovely novel was a treasure trove of information and folklore about bees. I appreciated the way the author skillfully weaved the information into the story.
What made the story even more compelling is that the bees themselves became central characters. The novel chronicles elderly beekeeper Albert’s life and his lifelong friendship with his neighbor and fellow beekeeper, Claire, and the rift that tore their friendship apart. This is a beautifully written story and one that I will not soon forget.
Albert Honig's most constant companions have always been his bees. A never-married octogenarian, he makes a modest living as a beekeeper, as his father and his father's father did before him. Deeply acquainted with the workings of his hives, Albert is less versed in the ways of people, especially his neighbour Claire, whose beauty and vivaciousness transformed his young life. Yet years passed by, feelings were repressed, and chances missed.
Until one day Albert, led by a trail of bees, discovers Claire's body. Through the quiet minutiae of life, he begins to examine the truths that lay hidden under the…
This story appealed to me on many levels. Thirty-three-year-old Angela dreams of a perfect life in a magazine photograph of a lovely cottage in Maine.
This dream leads her to start an online romance with Maine Catch, a handsome sailing instructor whom she paints into her photograph of the perfect life. Throwing caution to winds, she moves from New York to Maine to be near him. All too soon, she realizes her new life is far from magazine-perfect. Even so, she assimilates herself into the small community and makes friends with a delightful cast of characters.
She never forgets her roots and the flair for Italian cooking she inherited from her beloved grandmother, a talent that ends up being a catalyst for growth and change in Angela’s life.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train, and the critically acclaimed author of Bird in Hand, comes a novel of love, risk, and self-discovery—includes a special PS section featuring insights, interviews, and more.
Angela can feel the clock ticking. She is single in New York City, stuck in a job she doesn’t want and a life that seems to have, somehow, just happened. She inherited a flair for Italian cooking from her grandmother, but she never seems to have the time for it—these days, her oven holds only sweaters. Tacked to her office bulletin board is…
Sometimes the happiest “happily ever after” is learning to love yourself.
School teacher Monica Humphrey is dangerously close to becoming the proverbial cat lady. Abandoned by her father after her mother’s death, she’s an adult now—alone with her fears, hazy impressions of childhood, and an abundance of food to fill the void inside. Except for when it doesn’t. An accident one lonely Friday night becomes the catalyst for emotional growth and physical transformation, and the doorway to love opens first in the form of a grocery store manager, and then in a little girl in need of a home. Relationships, like water, she soon finds, seek their own level—and Monica Humphrey is rising up.
