Orange Blossom Special An Ellery Novella

Jerome Malcolm needs a partner for one last waltz. . . The author of Georgia Author of Year Award winners Bless Her Heart and Oh My Stars presents a novella about the family we have, the family we make, and how those two sometimes come together at the oddest times. Edie Malcolm isn’t sure she wants to keep living after her husband of sixty years, Jerome, passes away. Jerome, as he always did, had other plans—and a few surprises for his beloved wife. Unfortunately for Edie, those plans involve teaming up with her not-so-favorite sister-in-law Janice and two neighboring teens who haven’t quite figured out who they are going to be in life, much less how to deal with Jerome’s death. Thanks to Jerome’s wacky will, the foursome will have to travel the length of Tennessee in the Orange Blossom Special, an ancient hearse that Jerome had painted an orange and white checkerboard in homage to his beloved Volunteers. As they spread his ashes in the places he requested, Edie and Janice are tempted to leave behind years of hostility and forge a new kinship. Even though nothing goes according to plan, the quartet still learns about love, grief, and the odd ways in which friendship can blossom.

Jerome Malcolm needs a partner for one last waltz. . . The author of Georgia Author of Year Award winners Bless Her Heart and Oh My Stars presents a novella about the family we have, the family we make, and how those two sometimes come together at the oddest times. Edie Malcolm isn't sure she wants to keep living after her husband of sixty years, Jerome, passes away. Jerome, as he always did, had other plans-and a few surprises for his beloved wife. Unfortunately for Edie, those plans involve teaming up with her not-so-favorite sister-in-law Janice and two neighboring teens who haven't quite figured out who they are going to be in life, much less how to deal with Jerome's death. Thanks to Jerome's wacky will, the foursome will have to travel the length of Tennessee in the Orange Blossom Special, an ancient hearse that Jerome had painted an orange and white checkerboard in homage to his beloved Volunteers. As they spread his ashes in the places he requested, Edie and Janice are tempted to leave behind years of hostility and forge a new kinship. Even though nothing goes according to plan, the quartet still learns about love, grief, and the odd ways in which friendship can blossom.

Carbondale, Illinois. 1958. For widowed Tessie Lockhart, booking two seats on a passenger train to Florida symbolizes a fresh start, far from her memories of love and loss. For Tessie’s teenage daughter Dinah, who misses her father terribly, the move to Gainesville means a new school and the painful ordeal of making new friends. Rich, popular Crystal Landy is one of the first girls Dinah meets—and it will be Crystal, along with her exquisite mother, Victoria, who will transform the Lockharts’ lives in ways they never could have imagined. For as war and change come to this small southern town, the bonds between mothers and daughters will be tested, friendships sealed, secrets revealed, and relationships forever altered by the turbulence of the coming decades. Wise, moving, and warmly funny, The Orange Blossom Special, spans twenty years in the lives of an unforgettable cast of characters. Betsy Carter has crafted a powerful, richly rewarding novel about growing up, moving on, and turning strangers into friends.

With a light and compassionate touch, the author depicts a mother and daughter who create a family out of the people living at the crossroads during the social upheaval that shook the 1960s.

Return to Ellery, Tennessee for Sally Kilpatrick’s saucy new novel about two warring barbecue houses. Emma Sutton promised herself three things: she would never move back to Ellery, never work in the family barbecue restaurant, and never have anything to do with Ben Cates ever again. Losing her job and her home might’ve forced her to break the first two, but she’s determined to keep the third. Unlike Emma, Ben Cates has made peace with his hometown. He wants nothing more than to make his restaurant something his father couldn’t: a success. But between his hellraising little sister and Emma Sutton’s return to Ellery, his dream could easily be snatched away. Emma and Ben might’ve made each other’s childhood a living hell with their endless pranks, but the only way to finally get rid of the other is to win the coveted contract for Ellery’s annual barbecue festival. Seems easy enough—until attraction ignites like a charcoal flame, and happiness seeps in like a surprising new flavor. Can they find the courage to forgive bitter past mistakes and let trust into the mix, or will devastating secrets burn everything down again?

First published in Germany in 1929, The End and the Beginning is a lively personal memoir of a vanished world and of a rebellious, high-spirited young woman's struggle to achieve independence. Born in 1883 into a distinguished and wealthy aristocratic family of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hermynia Zur Muhlen spent much of her childhood travelling in Europe and North Africa with her diplomat father. After five years on her German husband's estate in czarist Russia she broke with both her family and her husband and set out on a precarious career as a professional writer committed to socialism. Besides translating many leading contemporary authors, notably Upton Sinclair, into German, she herself published an impressive number of politically engaged novels, detective stories, short stories, and children's fairy tales. Because of her outspoken opposition to National Socialism, she had to flee her native Austria in 1938 and seek refuge in England, where she died, virtually penniless, in 1951. This revised and corrected translation of Zur Muhlen's memoir - with extensive notes and an essay on the author by Lionel Gossman - will appeal especially to readers interested in women's history, the Central European aristocratic world that came to an end with the First World War, and the culture and politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

From the author of Secret of a Thousand Beauties and Peach Blossom Pavilion comes a beautifully written novel of self-discovery and intrigue. Chinese-American assistant professor Eileen Chen specializes in folk religion at her San Francisco college. Though her grandmother made her living as a shamaness, Eileen publicly dismisses witchcraft as mere superstition. Yet privately, the subject intrigues her. When a research project takes her to the Canary Islands—long rumored to be home to real witches—Eileen is struck by the lush beauty of Tenerife and its blend of Spanish and Moroccan culture. A stranger invites her to a local market where women sell amulets, charms, and love spells. Gradually Eileen immerses herself in her exotic surroundings, finding romance with a handsome young furniture maker. But as she learns more about the lives of these self-proclaimed witches, Eileen must choose how much trust to place in this new and seductive world, where love, greed, and vengeance can be as powerful, or as destructive, as any magic.

'Tis the Season for Witches, Elves, and a Legion of Ghosts Not so very long ago, Yuletide was as much a chilling season of ghosts and witches as it was a festival of goodwill. In The Old Magic of Christmas, you'll rub elbows with veiled spirits, learn the true perils of elves, and discover a bestiary of enchanted creatures. Rife with the more frightful characters from folklore and the season's most petulant ghosts, this book takes you on a spooky sleigh ride from the silvered firs of a winter forest to the mirrored halls of the Snow Queen. Along the way, you'll discover how to bring the festivities into your home with cookie recipes and craft instructions, as well as tips for delving more deeply into your relationship with the unseen. Praise: "Steeped in history and adorned with a bit of enchantment, The Old Magic of Christmas is the perfect book to read by a winter's fire with a mug of mulled cider in hand."--Deborah Blake, author of The Witch's Broom "...[A] fascinating journey into the stories behind the tinsel and bows."--Doreen Shababy, author of The Wild & Weedy Apothecary "...[A]n intriguing little tome that explores the darker side of the Yuletide holiday."--Ellen Dugan, author of The Enchanted Cat