Dreams of Falling
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
One of PureWow's "Best Beach Reads of Summer 2018"
New York Times bestselling author Karen White crafts evocative relationships in this contemporary women's fiction novel, set in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, about lifelong friends who share a devastating secret.
On the banks of the North Santee River stands a moss-draped oak that was once entrusted with the dreams of three young girls. Into the tree's trunk, they placed their greatest hopes, written on ribbons, for safekeeping—including the most important one: Friends forever, come what may.
But life can waylay the best of intentions....
Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads—and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home.
Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly fifty years—whispers of love, sacrifice, and betrayal—that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
White (The Night the Lights Went Out) transports readers to the South Carolina low country, where a storm gathering over the small town of Georgetown erupts into a whirlwind of tragedy, betrayal, and heartbreak. Larkin Lanier, a New York City copywriter seeking to escape her past, is forced back to her hometown when she receives a call that her mother, Ivy, is missing. Ivy has been looking for information surrounding the death of her estranged mother, Margaret Darlington, and the old ruined house that is her family's legacy. At the heart of the mystery behind the burned-out house are the women who had been like family to Ivy and Larkin, Margaret's two best friends, Ceecee and Bitty. When Larkin returns home, she picks up where her mother left off and works to untangle the secrets that had been plaguing Ivy. The narrative weaves together Larkin's story with flashbacks to the summer that changed the lives and friendships of Margaret, Ceecee, and Bitty. Larkin's nostalgia for Georgetown and the people she left behind manage to charm her into staying much longer than she anticipated as she digs up old secrets and learns to forgive. White's lovely tale of enduring friendship brings coastal South Carolina to life and examines the redemptive powers of love and loss.