Happy Friday! My book club is reading Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd this month. I have already read it and LOVED it! It is dual timeline women’s fiction featuring 2 women of the 1950s and their granddaughters. Secrets were kept in the past and uncovered in the present. I am really looking forward to talking about this book!
Here’s the first line:
Helen Devries carefully removed her nurse’s cap, fluffing her platinum back-combed bouffant, crackling the Aqua Net lacquering it in place.
Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives.
After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of her legacy and in need of allies and ideas, Cassidy reaches out to Nick, her former love, despite the complicated emotions brought by having him back in her life.
Cassidy inherits not only the family home but a task, spoken with her grandmother’s final breaths: ask Grace Kim—Eunhee’s granddaughter—to help sort through the contents of the locked hope chest in the attic. As she and Grace dig into the past, they unearth their grandmothers’ long-held secret and more. Each startling revelation reshapes their understanding of their grandmothers and ultimately inspires the courage to take risks and make changes to own their lives.
Set in both modern-day and midcentury Whidbey Island, Washington, this dual-narrative story of four women—grandmothers and granddaughters—intertwines across generations to explore the secrets we keep, the love we pass down, and the heirlooms we inherit from a well-lived life.
The author of more than fifty books, Sandra Byrd’s work has received many awards, nominations, and accolades, including a starred review, PW Pick from Publisher’s Weekly, as well as multiple starred reviews and Best Book selections from Library Journal. Other awards include the Historical Novel Society’s Editor’s Choice award, two Christy Awards nominations, a Bookpage Top Pick for Romance, and inclusion on Booklist’s Top Ten Inspirational Books of the Year list.
A dedicated foodie, Sandra cooks through the topic and location of every book she writes. In addition, she collects vintage glass and serve ware in her free time, loves long walks with her husband, and Sunday Suppers with her growing family.
Visit her at sandrabyrd.com or http://www.sandrabyrdbookcoach.com.
“…fluffing her platinum back-combed bouffant, crackling the Aqua Net lacquering it in place…”
How many times did I see someone spray down their hair like this? Beautiful detail and great beginning.
I hope you enjoy this one! Have a great weekend!
What a great first line! It really plants an image in my mind. Glad you liked it – I live in Seattle and have been to Whidbey Is many times……wonder if I should give this one a try.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
I hope you do! I’m going to Google images for Whidby Island.
I just love the cover to this novel! I have it on my kindle, just keep forgetting about it lol
Such a pretty cover! I’m currently reading Depending on the Cowboy by Jill Kemerer. The first line is: “Women made him nervous.” Have a great week!
I’m so late! It’s been a crazy, busy weekend. Anyway, I’m currently reading To Win Her Hand by Jen Geigle Johnson. It’s cute!
“Lord Featherstone craned his neck until he could no longer see Lady Loveluck exiting outside to wait for her carriage.”
I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!