Perennials Perennials

Perennials

    • 4.3 • 42 Ratings
    • $11.99
    • $11.99

Publisher Description

From New York Times bestselling author Julie Cantrell comes a story of family and the Southern roots that call us home.

“If Julie Cantrell isn’t on your reading list, she should be.” —Lisa Wingate

Years ago, Lovey chose to leave her family and the South far behind. But now that she’s returned, she’s realizing things at home were not always what they seemed.

Eva Sutherland—known to all as Lovey—grew up safe and secure in Oxford, Mississippi, surrounded by a rich literary history and her mother’s stunning flower gardens. But a shed fire, and the injuries it caused, changed everything. Her older sister, Bitsy, blamed Lovey for the irreparable damage. Bitsy became the homecoming queen and the perfect Southern belle who could do no wrong. All the while, Lovey served as the family scapegoat, always bearing the brunt when Bitsy threw blame her way.

At eighteen, suffocating in her sister’s shadow, Lovey turned down a marriage proposal and fled to Arizona. Free from Bitsy’s vicious lies, she became a successful advertising executive and a weekend yoga instructor, carving a satisfying life for herself. But at forty-five, Lovey is feeling more alone than ever and questioning the choices that led her here.

When her father calls insisting she come home three weeks early for her parents’ 50th anniversary, Lovey is at her wits’ end. She’s about to close the biggest contract of her career, and there’s a lot on the line. But despite the risks, her father’s words, “Family First,” draw her back to the red-dirt roads of Mississippi.

Lovey is quickly engrossed in a secret project—a memory garden her father has planned as an anniversary surprise. But the landscaper who’s also working on it is none other than Fisher, the first boy she ever loved. As she helps create this sacred space, Lovey begins to rediscover her roots, the power of second chances, and how to live perennially in spite of life’s many trials and tragedies.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2017
November 14
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
368
Pages
PUBLISHER
Thomas Nelson
SELLER
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
SIZE
1.3
MB

Customer Reviews

Ellen/Oceanside ,

PERN IALS

Eva finally fleeing from being under her sister Bitsy to Arizona. Now awaiting a big contract, a success in her career at 45,wonders about her choices. Her dad summons her to come home for their anniversary, for three weeks., to build a memory garden. They never visited her in Arizona so she didn’t know what to expect. Is what she had thought all though years as true today. Her sister married and has two children, would she even be welcome. A love of doing the garden, becomes so much more, and readers will delight in them, and this story.
Given ARC. by ?Thomas Nelson for my voluntary review and my honest opinion.

Stephany Renae ,

So familiar it hurts...

Confession? I don’t even like flowers in real life. Or yoga. Or general outdoorsiness. I don’t even have a sister. In spite of all that, Perennials by Julie Cantrell still felt so familiar that, at times, it hurt. Like, you know that feeling when you visit your hometown or spend time with your parents or extended family or even old friends? How in some ways you kind of subconsciously revert to the version of yourself that you were with them? You all just seamlessly fall back in to old rhythms and roles as if months or years of time and life and experience haven’t unfolded since you were last part of each others’ daily lives. And, even if you snap out of the haze long enough to remind yourself that you are an actual adult with bills and children and accomplishments, it doesn’t mean that everyone else won’t still be holding on to and expecting you to behave like the old version of you that lives in their memories. It can be both supremely comforting and incredibly maddening at the same time. Cantrell does a beautiful job of putting words to this experience. Probably one of the best depictions I’ve ever seen. I especially liked the subtle touches that further exaggerated this depiction. For example, the main character’s name is Eva. Everyone in her adult life, the life she has created for herself in Arizona, calls her Eva. When she returns to her hometown in Mississippi, not only does she *feel* like she’s gone back in time to her childhood and to all of the roles & relationships & memories she had tried to leave behind, but to add insult to injury, everyone there calls her by her childhood nickname, Lovey. Another subtle piece of authenticity that I noticed (and appreciated) because, full disclosure, I listened to the first few chapters via audiobook was the way the narrator’s accent ebbed and flowed depending on who the character was talking to. I don’t know if this was the author’s coaching or the narrator’s own artistic direction but kudos to whoever came up with it. I guess I should back track a little because this probably doesn’t make much sense to any one that doesn’t have an accent that differs from the region where they currently live or hasn’t witnessed an accented friend or family member be back amongst “their own”. Perennials starts with Eva/Lovey in Arizona talking to Arizonans. Her southern accent (as portrayed by the narrator) is definitely still noticeable but not an all out drawl. When she takes a call from her parents, a little more slips out and when she gets upset or worried it intensifies all the more but goes back into the closet once she’s off the phone and talking to her Arizonan coworkers. By the time she’s been back in Mississippi for a week or so? Full on Gone With the Wind. Even still, it ebbs a bit when she checks in with the office. If that isn’t real life, I don’t know what is. Anyway, I could say so much more about this book but it seems I’ve nearly written a book of my own already. There’s a ton of buzz surrounding this book & it is well worth every bit. With all of the press Perennials has received, you can read about some of the more central themes and plot points all over the internet but these were just a few of the things or themes that really stood out to me that I haven’t seen discussed or recognized yet. Julie Cantrell really is a beautiful story teller. Perennials will have you crying, laughing, wanting your mama and reevaluating your entire life all at once.

Catbird1985 ,

Confused

I enjoyed this book and felt it had a lot to offer, but the mix mash of religions left me feeling like the author is confused or trying to be inclusive. Truth is truth, don’t insult it by watering it down with pc crud.

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