Lots of people have recommended T. I. Lowe‘s books to me. I read Indigo Isle for book club last January, and it was excellent! All of my group loved it. So, it was a no-brainer to pick up Under The Magnolias. My goodness what a great read! This coming-of-age novel set in the 1980s is filled with heart and heartbreak, love and longing, and a faith message that was subtle yet strong. The story follows Austen Foster and her family through her growing up years on a tobacco farm in South Carolina. From the beginning, Austen is faced with almost impossible expectations placed on her by family obligations. A father with mental health issues, newborn twins in need of care, and the younger siblings to shelter and encourage take up a lot of Austen’s time and energy. The secondary characters that enter the Foster’s lives are wonderful in their quirky and broken selves as well. The story really is about how God takes the broken and makes it beautiful in His own time — emphasis on His timing. I laughed and cried during this book, but the HEA (healing ever after last chapter) was a testament to faith, perseverance, and the wisdom of leaning on the people of God. I cannot recommend this novel enough!
Highly recommended.
Audience: Adults.
(I purchased the audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
This night not only marked the end to the drought, but also the end to the long-held secret we’d kept hidden under the magnolias.
Magnolia, South Carolina, 1980
Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.
Scratching out a living on the family’s tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.
Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her―with the son of a wealthy local family who she’s crushed on for years―her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family’s secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth.
Weaving together themes of hope, grief, mental health, and faith into a beautiful and moving novel, Under the Magnolias, T. I. Lowe’s gritty yet tender and uplifting coming-of-age tale reminds us that a great story can break your heart . . . then heal it in the best possible way.
T. I. Lowe is an ordinary country girl who loves to tell extraordinary stories. She is the author of 21 novels, including the #1 international bestseller and critically acclaimed Under the Magnolias and her debut breakout Lulu’s Café. Her novel Indigo Isle won the prestigious Christy Award in the contemporary romance category and was subsequently named Christy Award Book of the Year. She lives in coastal South Carolina with her husband and family.
This is one of my all-time favorite books!
Can’t believe I waited so long to read it!
Me either, ha!