Augusta Trobaugh

Sarah Addison Allen

Kathryn Magendie

Bright lights flicker in the dark evenings of summer. Pinpoints of hope float against the black descent of night. The sweetest of small and innocent creatures finds its way through the shadows. Fireflies seem to dance on sheer air, illuminating the space between heartbeats. Children give off a similar brave glow, despite the challenges of their young lives. The lessons of childhood are often painful, the shedding of fragile wings in the gloam of an uncertain future. These rich novellas are small jewels reflecting the essence of what it means to grow up dancing among the shadows of life, carrying a brave, small beacon because you know that even the brightest days always, always, end in darkness. Childhood can be so sweetly sad and sadly sweet, profound and deceptively easy to categorize, yet poignant to remember. New York Times bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen (GARDEN SPELLS, SUGAR QUEEN, THE PEACH KEEPER) anchors THE FIREFLY DANCE with her wistful and funny novella about Louise, a North Carolina girl whose keen observations of the lives around her weaves an unforgettable spell with just a hint of everyday magic. Phyllis Schieber's Sonya, a child of Holocaust survivors, is confronted with the responsibilities of her legacy when she has a poignant encounter with a classmate, another child of survivors, and her mother, in a local shop in their 1970's New York neighborhood. Kathryn Magendie's Petey deals wryly with her family's move from the cool blue mountains of North Carolina to the hot flatlands of Texas. Augusta Trobaugh's stoic Georgia boy leads us through his surreal encounter with a mysterious backwoods toddler who turns out to be anything but ordinary.

The Firefly Dance

When Mr. Oto arrives in Salty Creek, Georgia, kind Miss Anne takes him in and widow Sophie rediscovers new joy after meeting him, but the relationships are tested after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and Mr. Oto's new life is besieged.

Sophie and the rising sun

In a modern tale based on the classic film, Arsenic and Old Lace, the women of a small town's bird-watching society secretly plot to murder a member's husband who tricked his wife into marriage in order to steal her land for a development project. By the author of Sophie and the Rising Sun. 10,000 first printing.

A Novel

The Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society

During the 1950s, young Jessica - Southern born but "being Yankee raised" -- spends Christmas in the small town of Galilee, Georgia, in the company of her Great-Aunt Kate, two other aunts, and a cousin. During this relatively brief visit, Jessica is subjected to full "Southernization" by the entire family.As one means of teaching Jessica "who she is," they tell her the family story of the J.P. Stevens Percale sheet, a singular present that has circulated back and forth between Great-Aunt Kate and her late husband's Aunt Frances in Dallas for over forty years. The story of how that tradition began and why it continued for so long provides Jessica with her greatest lesson in the crash-course of Southern culture and manners. Conversely, she is also initiated into the brutal burden of Southern history.Of all the family, only Aunt Cana, an African-American woman who has "been with" the family for as long as anyone can remember (and whose church-going, God-fearing Mama named her in honor of Christ's miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee), knows the real secret behind the story of the cyclic gift. Of all the women who try to influence Jessica, Cana is the one who finally leads the child into an acceptance and then a somewhat reluctant celebration of Family -- "no matter how crazy it is!"A light-hearted story on the surface, Gifts also portrays the full range of that era's Southern history and culture: rigid racial and social stratification, a veritable worship of the past, an eternal honoring of Ancestors, an iron-clad adherence to good manners, and most of all, the restructuring of memory - the art of making a good story even better.

A Southern Story

Gifts

"[Augusta Trobaugh] streamlines her rich Southern style and creates a narrative as delicate as a line drawing" - USA Today Dove, Molly, Little Ellis and Crystal are runaways with nowhere to turn and no one they can trust until they arrive at a secret sanctuary called Swan Place, where they are taken under wing by a remarkable group of women. "Both inspirational and down-to-earth." - Publishers Weekly "The powers of religion, family, and love work together to combat racism while offering hope." ~ Library Journal "A touching story of people finding sanctuary and kindness in unlikely places when they need it most." ~ Booklist Augusta Trobaugh is the author of acclaimed southern novels including Music From Beyond the Moon, The Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society, Sophie and the Rising Sun, Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb, and Praise Jerusalem!

Swan Place

The end of segregation made little difference in the daily lives of old Miss Minnie and her day-helper, Lula. But when a figment of Miss Minnie’s addled imagination threatens Lula's long-held job security, Lula uses the old, entrenched rules of segregation to dispel that figment -- with surprising results. A short story.

An Uninvited Guest

"A writer of extraordinary talent and skill." BOOKLIST She became his soul mate and first love, but can they escape a destiny that was decided before they were born? In 1920's Florida, an abandoned baby boy grows up under a cloud of mystery, adopted by two strong southern women, who try to protect him from his family's secrets and heartaches. But even their best intentions and deepest devotion can't hide the truth forever. Or soften the fate he must face with the girl he loves. Augusta Trobaugh's unforgettable novel speaks of loyalty, loss, the difficult choices we make in the name of family, and of courageous hope, each inspired by the fragile and painfully longing music of life, a song that seems to come from beyond the moon.

Music From Beyond The Moon

Sophie and the Rising Sun

Fans of southern novels that explore the complex relationships between white families and their black hired help will find a compelling story about race relations in PRAISE JERUSALEM. Amelia, an aging Georgia matron forced by money woes to move in with two other women--outlandishly preachy Maybelline and take-no-nonsense Mamie, who is black--begins to confront her childhood memories of the black women who worked for her family. Their lives, both tragic and yet sublimely proud, haunt Amelia even now, as she searches for a way to make peace with the sorrows she innocently observed. PRAISE JERUSALEM is a rare mix of poignant drama but also wry humor. Both the elder Amelia and her childhood self are primly rebellious and irrepressible; Amelia's sharp eye for petty human foibles never fails her.

Praise Jerusalem!

An unforgettable story of an extraordinary love and a town's prejudice during World War II. Sophie and the Rising Sun "suggests the small but heartwarming triumphs made possible by human dignity and courage." -Publisher's Weekly. In sleepy Salty Creek, Georgia, strangers are rare. When a quiet, unassuming stranger arrives--a Japanese man with a secret history of his own--he becomes the talk of the town and a new beginning for lonely Sophie, who lost her first love during World War I. Middle-aged Sophie had resigned herself to a passionless existence. That all begins to change as she finds herself drawn to the mysterious Mr. Oto. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Mr. Oto's newfound life comes under siege; his safety, even in Salty Creek, is no longer certain. Sophie must decide how much she is willing to risk for a future with the man who has brought such joy into her life. Visit the author at: www.AugustaTrobaugh.com

Augusta Trobaugh

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