The Garden of Small Beginnings
by Abbi Waxman
Several years after her husband was killed in a car accident, Lillian is still devastated. She works as an illustrator for a publishing firm. One of her assignments is to provide pictures for a book on vegetables. For research, she and her little girls, along with her sister, take a gardening class where they meet some interesting characters. Together, they create a community garden, but vegetables, fruits, and flowers aren’t the only things that grow there.
Each chapter is preceded by a section that explains how to grow a particular plant. Those aren’t as interesting as the story. I love the humorous way the author portrays grief, gardening, romance, and healing. Her telling of the story from Lillian’s first-person point of view, as if she were talking to you face to face, gives it a more casual touch. The ending ties everything up but leaves the reader wondering.
One thing I don’t like about this book is the idea that a woman needs to have a man in order to be happy. I’ve been content to live most of my life without a man. That said, even if you’re not into gardening, which I’m not, and even if you’re not into romance, which I’m not, you’ll get a good laugh and a good feeling from this book.
New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
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