Gift Guide
Gardenia
Duty
by
Kathleen Varn
Genre:
Women's Historical Fiction
In
1957 jobs are scarce in rural Ashland, Alabama. Bobby Higgins is
facing life decisions; his family’s farm struggles and threat of
the draft hangs over 18-year-old males as the Cold War rumbles in the
distance. Bobby heads off to boot camp, vowing to provide for his
family from his pay. Between shore and sea duty, Bobby leaves broken
hearts in every port. When his own heart is stolen by Rose, he’s
shocked to learn that she comes with four daughters, a package deal
he’s unsure he wants. But when Rose disappears, Bobby finds her and
persuades her to marry him. Somehow they navigate their way through
the trials of marriage and parenting as he fulfills his patriotic
career and his promise to raise four willful daughters. In the spring
of 2004, his daughters are brought together by grief. They forge new
bonds, sharing their joys, losses, regrets, and ultimately family
secrets that will seal all their fates…if they can summon the
courage to report for duty.
Kat
Varn’s love
affair with words manifested when she turned four and taught herself
to read. As she grew older, books and reading were an escape from
responsibility. As the oldest daughter in a transient Navy
family, words fed her imagination to embrace adventure and magical
worlds. Kat was drawn to the strength of little girls in The
Little Princess and The
Secret Garden.
Eventually,
Kat dove into journaling between the pages of beautiful leather
notebooks, recording her children’s infant landmarks. Journaling
also helped her find solace in the grief of a toxic relationship.
Throughout her journey to extract her family from oppression, she
explored the idea of freedom through allegorical short stories. In
the midst of angst and soul searching, she retained a sense of humor
that gave her the resilience to pursue the search for her true self.
Kat
hopes her readers enjoy Ameera’s journey to pursue the forbidden
zone of dance while becoming part of a larger experience—embraced
and bonded to eight glittery belly dancers. Each of them aware they
may have never met without the common denominator of a six-week belly
dance class under the tutelage of their troupe director.
Kat
is now very happily married to her soulmate. She resides in
Charleston, South Carolina, where she worked for an adoption attorney
for twenty-three years. With her two children settled in adulthood,
she is exploring a beautiful world, from scuba diving in Fiji or
photographing from Alaska’s frozen tundra.
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The cover is beautiful. Love the blurb.
ReplyDeleteInteresting cover
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in reading about the lives of the girls, and good cover art.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a book I would love to read!
ReplyDeletethis cover is intriguing
ReplyDeleteI love the brown and white photos in books and covers:) It does remind me of "the olden days." :)
ReplyDeleteThe cover is bewitching!! I can't stop staring at it!
ReplyDeletei love the book cover
ReplyDeleteGreat cover and I love books that are from the late 50's.. They bring back my own memories and make the book so easy to relate to.. Best of luck and thank you....
ReplyDeleteThe cover art looks nice.
ReplyDeleteLovely cover.
ReplyDeleteLovely cover, gives me a nostalgic feel.
ReplyDeleteI think the cover is moving and powerful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance.
I think the cover is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read. Great cover!
ReplyDeleteI love dramatic books that cover multiple generations. Gardenia Duty sounds really good!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fantastic read.
ReplyDeleteI'm anxious to read the book as it seems like a nostalgic time in history and the cover fits the story line perfectly!
ReplyDeletePeriod piece books are my favorite to read and this was certainly an interesting time in America.
ReplyDeleteTotally adding this to my TBR list. The cover is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book, I like historical fiction. The cover was pretty
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a wonderful story! The cover is riveting!
ReplyDeleteI love the old photograph of the family.
ReplyDeleteThe cover is different & intersting.
ReplyDeleteI like this cover of all the little girls together. It reminds me of the scenes in the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou, when all the little girls/sisters are all lined up holding onto a rope, walking behind their mother. I also like the sepia tone photos :)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of the book or the cover?
ReplyDeleteits an amazing choice of cover,the use of old timey photo is really cool
THX
The cover is interesting. Sounds like a great read
ReplyDeleteWithout giving much away, I am curious how you chose the title.
ReplyDeleteThe cover is great & very interesting
ReplyDeleteGreat cover and very interesting
ReplyDelete