The hopes and dreams of four generations of Southern women are revealed in the stories they pass down from grandmother, to mother, to daughter, to granddaughter.

In a small Southern town, a group of women caught up in secondary roles struggles to expand the dimensions of their lives in a world of poverty and male domination

A “spellbinding” tale of a headstrong young woman, a mysterious hypnotist, and a battle for freedom in early twentieth-century Oregon (School Library Journal). Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent young suffragist in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Cat Winters, award-winning author of The Uninvited, breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

Two unforgettable characters, Jack Ernest Stokes, known as Blinking Jack, and his wife, Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes, tell the story of their years together. Jack was forty and Ruby only twenty when they were married. For twenty-five years they lived together, man and wife, until Ruby died of lung cancer. A LITERARY GUILD AND DOUBLEDAY BOOK CLUB selection.

The hopes and dreams of four generations of Southern women are revealed in the stories they pass down from grandmother, to mother, to daughter, to granddaughter

'Moving and inspiring, courageous and true: real art. Just reading her is pleasure' Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun Just days into motherhood, a woman begins dying. Fast and without warning. On return from near-death, Tanya Shadrick vows to stop sleepwalking through life. To take more risks, like the characters in the fairy tales she loved as a small girl, before loss and fear had her retreat into routine and daydreams. Around the care of young children, she starts to play with the shape and scale of her days: to stray from the path, get lost in the woods, make bargains with strangers. As she moves beyond her respectable roles as worker, wife and mother in a small town, Tanya learns what it takes - and costs - to break the spell of longing for love, approval, safety, rescue.