This month on BookTrib, we are celebrating Women’s Fiction titles that showcase “Hope and Enduring Families.” The stories of all the things that life throws at us and at those we love, the illnesses, misunderstandings, the hurt and anger, the grief, the things that outnumber and overwhelm us, that turn our world grey. But in the end, how life, hope and kindnesses along the way put the color back into our world and pull us through.
A Little Bit of Grace (Berkley, 2020)
by Phoebe Fox
Family is everything — Grace McAdams’ mom must have said it to her a thousand times before she died. Before Grace’s dad ran off with an aspiring actress half his age. Before only-child Grace found out she was unable to have children of her own. Before Brian — her childhood best friend, business partner and, finally, her husband — dropped a “bombshell” on her in the form of her stunning new replacement.
Which means Grace now has … nothing.
That is, until a letter from a woman claiming to be a relative Grace never knew she had sends her on a journey — from the childhood home she had to move back into (three doors down from the happy couple) to a tropical paradise island to meet a total stranger who claims to be family. And Grace starts to uncover answers about the eccentric woman her family never mentioned: an octogenarian who writes a viral relationship-advice blog, a compulsive (and highly successful) matchmaker … and the keeper of an unimaginable family secret held for more than fifty years.
Blind Turn (Black Rose Writing, 2021)
by Cara Sue Achterberg
An examination of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. Liz Johnson single-handedly raised an exemplary daughter — honor student, track star and all-around good kid — despite the disapproval of her father and her small town. How could that same teenager be responsible for the death of the high school’s beloved football coach? This is Texas, where high school football ranks right up there with God, so while the legal battle wages, the public deals its own verdict.
Desperate for help, Liz turns to a lawyer whose affection she long ago rejected and attempts to play nice with her ex-husband while her daughter struggles with guilt and her own demons as she faces the consequences of an accident she doesn’t remember. Can one careless decision alter a lifetime?
Chimes From a Cracked Southern Belle (Collard Queen Press, 2021)
by Susan Reinhardt
Weeks after she was left half-dead in the Bi-Lo parking lot, Prudy Millings, a 38-year-old plucky heroine to root for, packs up her two precocious children and settles in her parents’ South Carolina hometown where she deals with a delightful, Proverbs-spewing mama who pretends her grown daughters are virgins. Even after they’ve married and birthed children. There, in the quirky cocoon of family support, Prudy finds a new purpose for herself and her children, discovering joy in places she never expected it, in spite of the threatening letters her psychotic ex sends from jail.
As Prudy begins a journey toward recovery and a new career, a dark secret surfaces, but it just might be one that, if handled right, could be her ticket to finding herself again.
A Million Reasons Why (St. Martin’s Press, 2021)
by Jessica Strawser
When two strangers are linked by a mail-in DNA test, it’s an answered prayer — that is, for one half-sister. For the other, it will dismantle everything she knows to be true. But as they step into the unfamiliar realm of sisterhood, the roles will reverse in ways no one could have foreseen.
Caroline lives a full, happy life — a thriving career, three feisty children, an enviable marriage and a close-knit extended family. She couldn’t have scripted it better. Except for one thing: She’s about to discover her fundamental beliefs about them all are wrong.
Sela lives life in shades of gray, suffering from irreversible kidney failure. Her marriage crumbled in the wake of her illness. Her beloved mother, always her closest friend, unexpectedly passed away. She refuses to be defined by her grief, but still, she worries what will happen to her two-year-old son if she doesn’t find a donor match in time. She’s the only one who knows Caroline is her half-sister and may also be her best hope for a future.
But Sela’s world isn’t as clear-cut as it appears — and one misstep could destroy it all. (Read BookTrib’s review here.)
The Speed Of Light (Lake Union, 2021)
by Elissa Grossell Dickey
A novel told in intersecting timelines over a tumultuous, defining year in one woman’s life. Simone is trying her best not to think of what she’s lost. Diagnosed with MS, she awaits the results of another anxiety-inducing MRI. She’s just walked away from Connor, “a fixer” but possibly the love of her life. Nearing the holidays, the sights and sounds of winter in South Dakota only prick memories of better years gone by.
Then, on a December morning at the university where she works, gunshots pierce the halls. In a temporary safe place and terrified, Simone listens and pretends this will all be over soon. As she waits for silence, her mind racing, Simone’s past year comes into focus. Falling in love and missing it. Finding strength in family and enduring friendships. Planning for the future, fearing it, and hoping against hope in dark places.
Her life has been changing at the speed of light, and each crossroad brought Simone here, to this day, to endure the things she can’t control and to confront those that she can.
The Things We Keep (GenZ Publishing, 2021)
by Julee Balko
What would you keep of your mother’s after she dies? What secrets would you keep from your family? Serena is dealing with these questions while balancing grief, a scientific career, motherhood and not hating her spouse. You know, the typical easy life of a woman.
There is one thing Serena thought she knew: Her mother hated her. But now Serena must come face to face with the truth she learns after her mother’s death. Maybe her mother didn’t hate her but loved her so much that she changed everything for her.
Serena is a scientist who studies cancer. Watching her mom die of the disease she knows intimately makes her life and family spin out of control. The truth she learns is that forgiveness and love can endure and live longer than all of us.
A River for Gemma (The Wild Rose Press, 2021)
by Debra Whiting Alexander
Three spirited women. One perilous past. And an unlikely heroine.
Miracles abound in Sugar Creek, a small town nestled near the horse trails and hazelnut orchards of Oregon’s lush countryside. It is here, where 26-year-old Gemma Porter lives a vibrant life chasing her dreams. But Gemma is underestimated by a world that pigeonholes her as “intellectually disabled.” While the naysayers and bullies only see Gemma’s limitations, her beloved grandmother sees the heart of a genius — and a soul of divination.
When Gemma’s longing to be a mother collides with her grandmother’s hidden past, three generations of Porter women are put in peril. A harrowing adventure unfolds into a heroic quest to save their lives. As Gemma’s bravery is tested, she will need to prove that regardless of age or intellect, a mother’s love knows no bounds.
Thoughts & Prayers (Milford House Press, 2021)
by Lee Anne Post
Straight-A student Lily Jeong, misunderstood by helicopter parents and ignored by thoughtless classmates, sneaks her manipulative boyfriend into Rockwell High believing he’ll get revenge for her recent public humiliation.
Minutes later, 14 people are dead.
Plagued by guilt, Lily invents one lie after another to evade arrest while devastated parents and survivors struggle to piece together their wrecked lives. But when they come together in a support group, their mounting anger drives them to vengeance. Thoughts & Prayers explores the struggle in each of five families when an unexpected tragedy strikes and children die. But for the parents of the accomplice to the crime, the journey is even more arduous. Lily’s parents’ enduring love of their daughter and deep belief in family enables them to break through their shame and support her. (Read BookTrib’s review here.)
Sunflowers Beneath the Snow (Atmosphere Press, 2022)
by Teri M. Brown
A Ukrainian rebel. Three generations of women bearing the consequences. A journey that changes everything.
When Ivanna opens the door to uniformed officers, her tranquil life is torn to pieces — leaving behind a broken woman who must learn to endure the cold, starvation and memories of a man who died in the quintessential act of betrayal. Using her thrift, ingenuity and a bit of luck, she finds a way to survive in Soviet Ukraine along with her daughter, Yevtsye.
But the question remains, will she be strong enough to withstand her daughter’s deceit and the eventual downfall of the nation she has devoted her life to? Or will the memories of her late husband act as a shadow haunting everyone and everything she loves, including Ionna, the granddaughter that never knew him. Despite age and ideological differences, Ivanna, Yevtse and Ionna help one another to adapt and thrive.
Exiled South (Koehler Books, 2022)
by Harriet Cannon
Exiled South is a dual timeline story of a 21st-century woman’s journey to reconcile deep family wounds that split her family during the American Civil War. Lizbeth Gordon, a school counselor and master at facilitating conflict resolution in everyone’s life but her own, returns home to South Carolina after her husband’s sudden death, seeking solace at the ramshackle family cottage.
But the quiet life doesn’t last. An elderly aunt has troubling family stories of a blockade runner hunted as a traitor after the fall of Charleston and ancestors who disappeared during Civil War Reconstruction. Tentacles of the past reach across the continents when Lizbeth takes a job at an international school in Rio de Janeiro. She meets a multiethnic descendant of Confederate exiles with the Gordon surname and 19th-century documents. Robert Gordon’s letters describe bold escapes from Federal Blockaders and Civil War intrigue in Scotland. Laurette Gordon’s diary shares a heart-wrenching story of sacrifice. Lizbeth finds descendants of lost ancestors in the hope to unravel painful secrets, reconnect and resolve long-term family hurt and misunderstanding.
A Little Bit of Grace by Phoebe Fox
Family is everything — Grace McAdams’ mom must have said it to her a thousand times before she died. Before Grace’s dad ran off with an aspiring actress half his age. Before only-child Grace found out she was unable to have children of her own. Before Brian — her childhood best friend, business partner and, finally, her husband — dropped a “bombshell” on her in the form of her stunning new replacement.
Which means Grace now has … nothing.
That is, until a letter from a woman claiming to be a relative Grace never knew she had sends her on a journey — from the childhood home she had to move back into (three doors down from the happy couple) to a tropical paradise island to meet a total stranger who claims to be family. And Grace starts to uncover answers about the eccentric woman her family never mentioned: an octogenarian who writes a viral relationship-advice blog, a compulsive (and highly successful) matchmaker … and the keeper of an unimaginable family secret held for more than fifty years.
Blind Turn by Cara Sue Achterberg
An examination of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. Liz Johnson single-handedly raised an exemplary daughter — honor student, track star and all-around good kid — despite the disapproval of her father and her small town. How could that same teenager be responsible for the death of the high school’s beloved football coach? This is Texas, where high school football ranks right up there with God, so while the legal battle wages, the public deals its own verdict.
Desperate for help, Liz turns to a lawyer whose affection she long ago rejected and attempts to play nice with her ex-husband while her daughter struggles with guilt and her own demons as she faces the consequences of an accident she doesn’t remember. Can one careless decision alter a lifetime?
Chimes From a Cracked Southern Belle by Susan Reinhardt
Weeks after she was left half-dead in the Bi-Lo parking lot, Prudy Millings, a 38-year-old plucky heroine to root for, packs up her two precocious children and settles in her parents’ South Carolina hometown where she deals with a delightful, Proverbs-spewing mama who pretends her grown daughters are virgins. Even after they’ve married and birthed children. There, in the quirky cocoon of family support, Prudy finds a new purpose for herself and her children, discovering joy in places she never expected it, in spite of the threatening letters her psychotic ex sends from jail.
As Prudy begins a journey toward recovery and a new career, a dark secret surfaces, but it just might be one that, if handled right, could be her ticket to finding herself again.
A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser
When two strangers are linked by a mail-in DNA test, it’s an answered prayer — that is, for one half-sister. For the other, it will dismantle everything she knows to be true. But as they step into the unfamiliar realm of sisterhood, the roles will reverse in ways no one could have foreseen.
Caroline lives a full, happy life — a thriving career, three feisty children, an enviable marriage and a close-knit extended family. She couldn’t have scripted it better. Except for one thing: She’s about to discover her fundamental beliefs about them all are wrong.
Sela lives life in shades of gray, suffering from irreversible kidney failure. Her marriage crumbled in the wake of her illness. Her beloved mother, always her closest friend, unexpectedly passed away. She refuses to be defined by her grief, but still, she worries what will happen to her two-year-old son if she doesn’t find a donor match in time. She’s the only one who knows Caroline is her half-sister and may also be her best hope for a future.
But Sela’s world isn’t as clear-cut as it appears — and one misstep could destroy it all. (Read BookTrib’s review here.)
The Speed Of Light by Elissa Grossell Dickey
A novel told in intersecting timelines over a tumultuous, defining year in one woman’s life. Simone is trying her best not to think of what she’s lost. Diagnosed with MS, she awaits the results of another anxiety-inducing MRI. She’s just walked away from Connor, “a fixer” but possibly the love of her life. Nearing the holidays, the sights and sounds of winter in South Dakota only prick memories of better years gone by.
Then, on a December morning at the university where she works, gunshots pierce the halls. In a temporary safe place and terrified, Simone listens and pretends this will all be over soon. As she waits for silence, her mind racing, Simone’s past year comes into focus. Falling in love and missing it. Finding strength in family and enduring friendships. Planning for the future, fearing it, and hoping against hope in dark places.
Her life has been changing at the speed of light, and each crossroad brought Simone here, to this day, to endure the things she can’t control and to confront those that she can.
The Things We Keep by Julee Balko
What would you keep of your mother’s after she dies? What secrets would you keep from your family? Serena is dealing with these questions while balancing grief, a scientific career, motherhood and not hating her spouse. You know, the typical easy life of a woman.
There is one thing Serena thought she knew: Her mother hated her. But now Serena must come face to face with the truth she learns after her mother’s death. Maybe her mother didn’t hate her but loved her so much that she changed everything for her.
Serena is a scientist who studies cancer. Watching her mom die of the disease she knows intimately makes her life and family spin out of control. The truth she learns is that forgiveness and love can endure and live longer than all of us.
A River for Gemma by Debra Whiting Alexander
Three spirited women. One perilous past. And an unlikely heroine.
Miracles abound in Sugar Creek, a small town nestled near the horse trails and hazelnut orchards of Oregon’s lush countryside. It is here, where 26-year-old Gemma Porter lives a vibrant life chasing her dreams. But Gemma is underestimated by a world that pigeonholes her as “intellectually disabled.” While the naysayers and bullies only see Gemma’s limitations, her beloved grandmother sees the heart of a genius — and a soul of divination.
When Gemma’s longing to be a mother collides with her grandmother’s hidden past, three generations of Porter women are put in peril. A harrowing adventure unfolds into a heroic quest to save their lives. As Gemma’s bravery is tested, she will need to prove that regardless of age or intellect, a mother’s love knows no bounds.
Thoughts & Prayers by Lee Anne Post
Straight-A student Lily Jeong, misunderstood by helicopter parents and ignored by thoughtless classmates, sneaks her manipulative boyfriend into Rockwell High believing he’ll get revenge for her recent public humiliation.
Minutes later, 14 people are dead.
Plagued by guilt, Lily invents one lie after another to evade arrest while devastated parents and survivors struggle to piece together their wrecked lives. But when they come together in a support group, their mounting anger drives them to vengeance. Thoughts & Prayers explores the struggle in each of five families when an unexpected tragedy strikes and children die. But for the parents of the accomplice to the crime, the journey is even more arduous. Lily’s parents’ enduring love of their daughter and deep belief in family enables them to break through their shame and support her. (Read BookTrib’s review here.)
Sunflowers Beneath the Snow by Teri M. Brown
A Ukrainian rebel. Three generations of women bearing the consequences. A journey that changes everything.
When Ivanna opens the door to uniformed officers, her tranquil life is torn to pieces — leaving behind a broken woman who must learn to endure the cold, starvation and memories of a man who died in the quintessential act of betrayal. Using her thrift, ingenuity and a bit of luck, she finds a way to survive in Soviet Ukraine along with her daughter, Yevtsye.
But the question remains, will she be strong enough to withstand her daughter’s deceit and the eventual downfall of the nation she has devoted her life to? Or will the memories of her late husband act as a shadow haunting everyone and everything she loves, including Ionna, the granddaughter that never knew him. Despite age and ideological differences, Ivanna, Yevtse and Ionna help one another to adapt and thrive.
Exiled South by Harriet Cannon
Exiled South is a dual timeline story of a 21st-century woman’s journey to reconcile deep family wounds that split her family during the American Civil War. Lizbeth Gordon, a school counselor and master at facilitating conflict resolution in everyone’s life but her own, returns home to South Carolina after her husband’s sudden death, seeking solace at the ramshackle family cottage.
But the quiet life doesn’t last. An elderly aunt has troubling family stories of a blockade runner hunted as a traitor after the fall of Charleston and ancestors who disappeared during Civil War Reconstruction. Tentacles of the past reach across the continents when Lizbeth takes a job at an international school in Rio de Janeiro. She meets a multiethnic descendant of Confederate exiles with the Gordon surname and 19th-century documents. Robert Gordon’s letters describe bold escapes from Federal Blockaders and Civil War intrigue in Scotland. Laurette Gordon’s diary shares a heart-wrenching story of sacrifice. Lizbeth finds descendants of lost ancestors in the hope to unravel painful secrets, reconnect and resolve long-term family hurt and misunderstanding.
