Blue Gardenia - Paperback

by Amanda Gilby (Author)

A moving family saga about three generations of women reckoning with motherhood, grief, and reclamation in a Rust Belt company town.

In 1960, Deenie's lush garden and erratic behavior made the neighbors talk. Most days, Mia's only glimpse of her mother was from the bedroom window where she watched Deenie wander the woods and plant seeds by the light of the moon. After Deenie disappeared in the morning, Mia woke to cut flowers on her bedside table-payment for nurturing owed.

In the present, Mia reveals family secrets to her dead husband but conceals them from her sister and daughter. She knows the truth about Deenie, her early death, and her magnetic friend Lillian whose lipstick matched Deenie's red dahlias. Mia protects her mother's legacy in the garden but fears it in their bloodline.

Mia's daughter, Jess, cooks her way through a troubled marriage. Maternal ambivalence leads her to Deenie's diary but instead of the validation she craves, the words reveal how little Jess knows about the women who came before her.

When Deenie's daughters and granddaughter come together in her garden, they unearth more than they expect. The revelations of Deenie's discarded diary and the soil of their Rust Belt town lead them to question if the thread that weaves throughout all of their lives is the curse in their blood or the redeeming power of creativity in all its forms.