Southern Fiction Family

A Marriage Built on Lies, a Love That Defies All Alexandra Thurston’s life was shattered when her husband branded her a scarlet woman, accusing her of infidelity and divorcing her in disgrace. Now, she’s determined to clear her name and live on her terms—never to be tied down by marriage again. But her father has other plans. Desperate for an heir to his banking fortune, he’s determined to marry her off. When Alexandra is unexpectedly caught in a compromising situation with the dashing plantation owner, Connor Manning, her fate takes a turn she never imagined. Connor Manning has ...

**Some things are worth the wait.** Set on Canada’s picturesque Cape Breton Island, this book is perfect for those who enjoy new beginnings and countryside landscapes. Sam MacAuley and his wife Annalize are total opposites. When Sam wants to leave city life in Halifax to get a plot of land on Cape Breton Island, where he grew up, his wife wants nothing to do with his plans and opts to move herself and their three boys back to her home country of South Africa. As Sam settles into a new life on his own, his friend Lachlan encourages him to get back into the dating scene. Although he meets ...

Mississippi Roots and Vines. By Dr. Brenda Combs, EdD What began as a simple winemaking hobby soon blossomed into a thriving family business—but behind the success lies a deeper story rooted in legacy, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. Mississippi Roots and Vines follows a Southern family as they navigate generational secrets, spiritual awakenings, and the tangled vines of the past that both anchor and challenge them. In this moving and unforgettable novel, Dr. Brenda Combs uncorks a powerful narrative of transformation, entrepreneurship, and the enduring strength of family.

A fight for love and freedom in a harsh land...will the stakes prove too high? From the emerald hills of Ireland to a wild colonial land comes an epic story of love, brotherhood and the fight for liberty. 1851: After the death of her father, young Eve Richards is destitute. Her struggle to survive sees her deported in chains to the colony of New South Wales, penniless and alone. But here in this strange new world fortune smiles on the spirited, clever Eve in the shape of a respectable job offer that will lead to a quiet, secure life.

Set in the bucolic town of Angie, Louisiana, The Lord’s Acre tells the story of Eli Woodbine, a young boy who watches helplessly as his fundamentalist parents give in to their increasing sense of desperation and paranoia, living in a world where they can no longer see any hope or reason for existing. When the family is at their absolute lowest, they come across a local, charismatic church leader, in whom they quickly place all of their faith. Yet this man—known to them only as “Father”—is unlike anyone they have ever encountered before.

In this anthology of creative nonfiction, 28 writers set out to discover what they know, and don't know, about the person they call Mother. Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse and insightful collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers and expands our notions of motherhood in the South. The mothers in these essays were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time.

Ella Black seems to live the life most other 17-year-olds would kill for.... Until one day, telling her nothing, her parents whisk her off to Rio de Janeiro. Determined to find out why, Ella takes her chance and searches through their things. And realises her life has been a lie. Unable to comprehend the truth, Ella runs away, to the one place they'll never think to look - the favelas. But there she learns a terrible secret - the truth about the deepest, darkest side of herself....

After their father dies in a tragic accident, heiresses Evelyn, Georgia and Olivia Belle are left with a massive hole in their finances. With the world's media and National Crime Agency looking on, their family home, cars, and other assets are sold at auction, leaving the sisters penniless, homeless, and jobless. Shunned by their celebrity friends, the sisters must learn to fend for themselves for the first time in their lives.

The Mayor’s Missing Message A Birdie Lou Baxter Mystery – Book Two In the charming Southern town of Haven Hills, where sweet tea flows and gossip travels faster than high-speed fiber, Birdie Lou Baxter just wants a smooth installation job. But when her crew uncovers a decades-old confession tape hidden inside the walls of the mayor’s historic home—and the newly elected mayor vanishes the very next day—Birdie finds herself tangled in a web of long-buried secrets, political cover-ups, and a scandal that threatens to rewrite the town’s history. With the help of her loyal dispatch ...

Together, a boy and his parents drive to the city of Havana, Cuba, in their old family car. Along the way, they experience the sights and sounds of the streets - neighbors talking, musicians performing, and beautiful, colorful cars putt-putting and bumpety-bumping along. In the end, though, it’s their old car, Cara Cara, that the boy loves best.

When March Briscoe returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother's wife, the Briscoe family becomes once again the talk of the small town of Olympus. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms. Her husband's own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change? Within days of March's arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold them together might be exactly what drag them all down.

—Southern Historical Fiction at Its Best... A Visit to the Rural South that will Bless Your Heart— —VOLUME 2 ANTHOLOGY (6 volumes in all). Faith & Family Friendly— - Daughters (novella 1): Sudden widowhood left her totally unprepared, just as most things in her life had done. It had not been her fault, but it would truly be her fault if she condemned her daughters to the same life. And she wasn’t going to let that happen...no matter the cost. - Love and a Locomotive (novella 2): Lennie M. Marshall was named after Grandad, Leonard Marshall. By age 12, Lennie could shoot a rattler ...

Pauline Smith, a retired insurance processor, is comfortable in her habits and her home. She is a born worrier with strong opinions and believes in family taking care of family. When her mother is injured in a fall, Pauline and her sister Perk must move Mama from their childhood home in Roanoke, Virginia to an assisted living complex in Richmond, where they live. As she is confronted with her mother's frail health, Pauline struggles to confront her own fear of death and the grief she's harbored since her father died when she was a child.

Jesse Few peddles lies. His boss and clients order a couple. His married girlfriend gets a few. His family buys several. But he saves the top-of-the-line dishonesty to sell to himself. The 49-year-old suburban rogue focuses on carousing with his golf buddies, chasing women much too young for him, and surviving the Great Recession that’s raging across the South like it's the Big Banks March to the Sea.

About three-fourths of the way through our life’s journey, we suddenly stop. We stop to ponder all the “what if’s.” What if Jo had never joined the military? What if Gina hadn’t gotten pregnant? What if their choices hadn’t taken them in completely opposite directions, with completely different lives? The young girls of Polk Ridge, Arkansas reunite in Tomorrow’s Promise to pick up the pieces of a friendship long ago abandoned. Jo, an Air Force Major and world traveler has returned home. Gina never left. That careless “friend request” on Facebook is about to have lasting ...

Something dark lurks in the swamp behind Emily’s new home. When twelve-year-old Emily moves into her late grandfather’s house in Whispering Pines, she expects the usual new-kid struggles. Instead, she finds herself caught in a decades-old mystery surrounding her grandmother’s disappearance. Her mother’s desperate warnings to stay away from the swamp only fuel Emily’s curiosity about what really happened all those years ago. But as strange events begin to unfold, Emily discovers an ancient presence watching from the shadows—one that has been patiently waiting for her family’s ...

As America recovers from the Second World War, two families’ journeys begin. James Vincent, born in 1942 to an Irish American family, escapes his parents’ turbulent marriage and attends law school in New York, where he moves up the social ladder as a prosperous and bright attorney. Meanwhile, Agnes Miller, a beautiful black woman on a date with a handsome suitor, is pulled over by the police on a rural road in Georgia. The terrible moments that follow make her question her future and pivot her into a hasty marriage and new life in the Bronx.

Thirteen-year-old Dove Boone has always known there was something different about her talent with plants. But on an island where old magic is forbidden and ancient family rifts run deep, some secrets are better left buried. When her aunt's elaborate society wedding brings the divided island families together, Dove's carefully hidden gift becomes harder to control. Something dark is stirring on the forbidden side of Knot Island, where Dove's father vanished nine years ago. As the summer solstice approaches, Dove and her cousins uncover an ancient journal that hints at the truth: the three ...

In this heartwarming novel from bestselling author Kathryn Kaleigh, two soulmates overcome unsurmountable obstacles for a happily ever after. Danielle Worthington. New to Houston. A new start. A good time to declare a dating moratorium. She needed to start over. On her own. Samuel wanted nothing more than to focus on his new job as an airplane pilot at Skye Travels. Until his new boss sent him on an unexpected personal errand. But something more important than dating turned Danielle's world upside down and changed everything. This is a feel-good sweet wholesome contemporary romance.

Instead of spending the next phase of her life traveling around the world with her husband, Tara finds herself alone and starting over. Welcome to Blueberry Hill. Tara Singleton was perfectly happy with her life, right up until the moment she cut the cake at her birthday party. As everyone cheered, her husband sheepishly admitted he'd lost everything, they were flat broke. And he was leaving her for his pregnant mistress, a personal trainer young enough to be his daughter. Thank goodness their three children are grown with lives of their own. Instead of looking forward to traveling and ...