The Oleander Sisters

Hussey (The Sweetest Hallelujah) breathes life into the summer of 1969, when one woman in Biloxi, Miss., discovers secrets that threaten to tear apart her family. Sis Blake helps run her family’s restaurant, Sweet Mama’s Café; she attempts to get to know more about her soon-to-be brother-in-law, Larry, the man that her sister, Emily, has chosen as a father figure for a son born out of wedlock. Meanwhile, Mark, the child’s biological father, is killed in Vietnam. Shortly afterward, Emily and Sis’s brother, Jim, returns home from the war, emotionally battered. Sis is clearly the woman who holds her family together, protecting Emily, caring for Jim, and helping her aging grandmother, Sweet Mama, manage the restaurant. But when Sis uncovers the truth about her family’s past, even as they face a dangerous hurricane together, she seizes the opportunity to make her own dreams of future happiness come true. Lyrically written and emotionally affecting, Hussey’s latest explores the bonds of family and friendship that endure through adversity. [em](Aug.) [/em]