Dreams of Falling
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4.5 • 213 Ratings
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- $4.99
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.
Customer Reviews
Dreams of falling
I have read all of Karen White’s books and I alway think each time I finish one of her books that this is the best one I have read. But this one truly is the best!
Secrets of the past and the present
I love how this author, in her own unique southern fiction style, weaves together what happened to best friends Ceecee, Margaret, and Bitty during the early 50s and how it relates to Ivy and Larkin’s lives in 2010. In fact, all of the characters have some influence on each other’s life. Twenty-seven-year-old Larkin left her Georgetown, South Carolina home when she was 18 without looking back. She went to school, took a job and lived in New York, becoming a blank slate without wanting to make friends or be known to anyone else except professionally. When she is forced to return home for her mother, Ivy, she must not only face her own past with her best friends, Mabry and Bennett, and her parents, Ivy and Mack, but also in finding out her mother’s past during her own years of growing up. Secrets have affected all of the characters. Instead of suffering from memories of them, they must now face them. I always slow down my reading speed when reading a book by this author. There is a lot to absorb, and because I love her writing, I am able to immerse myself into a beautifully told, well thought out story. I especially love how the older generations have their own history, and how their actions affect those in the present. Every section of every chapter is told by each of the main character’s own point of view, making it more personal, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and wonderful. I was able to feel what they felt, and understand every sacrifice, betrayal, and secret and the reasons behind them. I loved it.
Dreams of Falling
Fiction or buried truths come to light,,,,,,,a family of heritage moving forward yet unable to let the past rest,,,,
Inviting,,,,suspenseful, heartfelt and charming,,,,