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Gardenias for Breakfast

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"Everybody has a story. You listen to that story, Honeygirl, and your story will come find you." Her Grand Lady spoke these words when Abby was just a girl, spending the summer in rural Louisiana, surrounded by an extended, loving family. She's been listening carefully ever since.

Now Abby is raising her own family thousands of miles away. And even though Hawaii might seem like paradise to some, it's a long way away from those idyllic days she remembers, sitting with her grandmother, learning about the beauty and mystery of life. So Abby has just one wish: that her daughter Hannah might be touched by the beauty of her 92-year-old Grand Lady's stories, before it's too late.

But when Hannah finally does spend time with Grand Lady, the old woman crushes her tender spirit. And a mother-daughter journey home becomes an adventure of discovery-about the importance of family and the healing found in forgiveness. In Gardenias for Breakfast, mothers and daughters may recognize a branch or two from their own family trees and find themselves wishing not only for Grand Lady's guidance but also for Hannah's ability to smell the clouds.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 8, 2004
      The versatile Gunn, the bestselling author of more than 53 books (Sister Chicks Do the Hula
      , etc.), offers readers of inspirational fiction an entertaining foray into the South and an intriguing look at the intergenerational relationships of women. Hannah has just turned 12 when her mother, Abby, takes her from their home in Maui to be blessed by her 92-year-old "Grand Lady"—Hannah's great-grandmother—in Louisiana. As they travel across the United States, they connect with various relatives, including Abby's estranged mother. Abby longs for her grandmother and Hannah to bond with each other, discovering that she herself is desperate for Grand Lady's approval. "It's funny whom we end up choosing to love and who ends up choosing to love us. It's rarely the people we think it should be," says Su Ling, Hannah's aunt. Although occasionally the descriptions falter ("Hannah was the dew-kissed rosebud about to curl back her first tender petals"), rich regional details spice up the story, and Gunn does a fine job fleshing out her characters. Faith fiction readers will especially enjoy the flitting appearances of an angel, who takes bodily form as a large black man carrying two white chickens, and also as a janitor. The ending is anticlimactic, given the prologue's promise, but still satisfying. This is one of Gunn's best offerings to date.

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  • English

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