Sweet Vidalia
-
-
3.3 • 7 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
This life-affirming novel follows a fifty-seven-year-old woman forced to rebuild her life, unexpectedly and alone, in 1960s Texas—telling a "wonderfully wise and compassionate story of the extraordinary courage it takes to live a seemingly ordinary life" (Shelley Read, author of Go As a River) and proving "it's never too late to come of age" (Kirkus Reviews).
“A generous story about the quiet heroism of older women.” —The Times (UK)
It’s 1964 and Eliza Kratke is mostly content. Married thirty years, she is long settled in Bayard, Texas with two grown children, a nice house, a little dog, and a routine. But her husband has a secret, and Eliza has not been brave enough to demand to know what it is.
So when her husband dies suddenly, the ground doesn’t just shift under Eliza’s feet—it falls away entirely, revealing that she has known nothing true about her life. How should she come to terms with all that has been a lie?
What emerges from this wreckage is a profoundly compelling portrait of a wonderfully nuanced woman, worn down like a gemstone to a core of durability and self-reliance as she fights for her own path forward. By taking business classes and moving into a hotel filled with aspiring young people, The Sweet Vidalia, Eliza gathers new friends and new possibilities. But with each of these, she finds that it isn't so simple to leave the past behind. Sweet Vidalia not only explores what it means to be honest with ourselves and with one another, but asks: what will we do with the truth when we find it?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An East Texas widow discovers her late husband was leading a double life in the appealing latest from Sandlin (Family Business). It's 1964 and Eliza Kratke, 57, is doubly crushed, first by the sudden death of her husband of 30 years, Robert, from what appears to be a heart attack, and then after the funeral home's secretary tells her another Mrs. Kratke has been making a fuss, claiming she was married to Robert. To make matters worse, Eliza discovers her finances are in shambles; Robert left her nothing but debt. Devastated, she retreats to her bed and stays there for weeks. When a collection agency tries to repossess the car, she manages to hold them off and sell it. She tries to sell the house, too, but finds a lien has been placed against it by the other Mrs. Kratke, so she rents it out for the time being, moves into a cheap hotel, and enrolls in a business course. The classroom is chock-full of colorful characters, including an artist who makes counterfeit money and a gay man who offers to help Eliza land a secretary job. Though the detours into these characters' stories makes the novel feel a bit scattered, Sandlin manages to evoke Eliza's can-do spirit as she perseveres through one challenge after another. This will move readers.
