Blessing in Disguise
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4.4 • 9 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A southern senator’s daughter reveals a secret that will shake her family and their town to its core, in this novel by a New York Times–bestselling author.
Raised in the waning days of the Jim Crow South, Grace Truscott has a unique perspective on race. Her father was a senator from Georgia whose liberalism sparked controversy during the civil rights movement, and who after his death becomes a hero in their small hometown. When she begins writing his biography, no one in her family expects anything surprising to come of it. But Grace knows the dead senator’s secret. She was there that long ago day when Ned Emory came to her father’s office with a gun. The black man had learned of the senator’s ongoing affair with his wife, and he had come to kill. But Emory took the bullet instead. The town goes into uproar when Grace reveals the truth. And as she quickly learns, it is only the first secret to be revealed. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Eileen Goudge including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestselling author Goudge ( Garden of Lies ) should hit the charts again with her tale of second loves and the emotional interbraiding of two complex family trees. Though the narrative does not sustain the compulsively readable jolt of its beginning chapters, it remains enjoyable even when the pace slows somewhat. New York City journalist Grace Truscott is hard at work on a biography of her famous father, a Southern Democratic senator and civil rights advocate. Her steel magnolia mother, Cordelia, now raising money for a memorial library for her late husband, is furious because Grace plans to spill the secret about Senator Truscott's role in the death of his black secretary Margaret's husband, a bitter pill that becomes more acrid after Grace learns that a long love affair between her father and Margaret produced a daughter. Other domestic squabbles fan the fires: Grace and her inamorato Jack, an editor, quarrel about their age difference, while sullen teens from their first marriages try to end their liaison and Jack's viperish older son plots against him at work; Cordelia struggles with her feelings for a younger man, a former teacher who is now her gardener. Goudge excels at capturing excruciating family dynamics, adolescent tantrums and emotions that cruise below the surface. Cliched descriptions--everyone is gorgeous and talented--and an overriding need to link characters with contrived plot twists do a disservice to an otherwise thumping good read. Paperback rights to Signet; BOMC dual main selection; 150,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; author tour.
