Unabridged. Read by Fran Washington. 12 hours. Cassettes.

Della Frazier and her two middle-aged daughters, Celeste and Ronnie, are in crisis. Della's husband has just died; Celeste's marriage is crumbling; and Ronnie, pursuing an acting career in New York, becomes sick and destitute. While cleaning out their father's home office, Celeste discovers that he has left her and Ronnie a house on 45 acres of land in Prosper, NC. Della fights hard to prevent her daughters from visiting the house and town that she had vowed at age 18 never to set foot in again. This novel has a seamless, omniscient narrative voice. The major theme here is the importance of facing up to the past and the present even though it may be painful. YAs will relate to the childhood and teenage years of the three main characters and see the bittersweet relationships among them. Young women in frequent conflict with their own mothers will also identify with Celeste's 23-year-old daughter when she fights against her mother's attempts to control her life.

2005 Griswold, Iowa, USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is #34 in the 2009 Christmas / Winter challenge.

This audio book is being released into the Cassette Audio BookBox hosted by sp4home (me!).

2009 Valley Center, Kansas, USA.

I picked this out of sp4home's Cassette Audio bookbox. I have never heard of this story but it sounded interesting.

What a wonderful story. I enjoyed the characters in this book. Although I wanted to take Celeste aside and give her a big "what for" many times. Anyway, it was interesting to see how Della and her daughters (Ronnie and Celeste) each dealt with their own secrets and conflicts. Interestingly more, it took going to a place, that was the source of one's great unhappiness, to force the understanding and healing of all three, narrowing the gap between their relationships. This is the first time that I've picked up anything by this pair of authors. I will keep my eyes open for other books written by DeBerry and Grant. Thanks for sharing this sp4home.

Putting this in the Earreading Audiobooks on Cassette Bookbox.

Taking this from the Audio Bookbox Ray. Thanks for sharing this box!

This book is reserved for the iwillrejoice Audibook VBB!

This book is on the way to iwillrejoice as part of her Audiobook VBB! I am excited to get these audiobooks moving!

Received this today as one of my selections from Round 3 of my Audiobook VBB. Thanks for sharing!

I enjoyed this book. At the beginning, I wasn't sure I would, as it starts out with quite a lot of arguing between the 2 sisters, which I don't enjoy listening to. But once the story got going, I found myself drawn in. Very Good.

Just a minor quibble, but what was up with those 2 mysterious happenings (when the house was first opened, & Della getting out of the truck at the hospital)? I wondered if the authors were planning a ghost story. I'm glad they weren't. But that was never explained.

I plan to offer to loan this to a friend. And then reserve it for my my Audiobook VBB. Thanks for sharing!

Sending to a new reader in Utah. Happy travels, little book!