The Orange Blossom Special

Carbondale, Illinois. 1958. For widowed Tessie Lockhart, booking two seats on a passenger train to Florida symbolizes a fresh start, far from her memories of love and loss. For Tessies teenage daughter Dinah, who misses her father terribly, the move to Gainesville means a new school and the painful ordeal of making new friends. Rich, popular Crystal Landy is one of the first girls Dinah meets—and it will be Crystal, along with her exquisite mother, Victoria, who will transform the Lockharts lives in ways they never could have imagined. For as war and change come to this small southern town, the bonds between mothers and daughters will be tested, friendships sealed, secrets revealed, and relationships forever altered by the turbulence of the coming decades.

Wise, moving, and warmly funny, The Orange Blossom Special, spans twenty years in the lives of an unforgettable cast of characters. Betsy Carter has crafted a powerful, richly rewarding novel about growing up, moving on, and turning strangers into friends.

The Orange Blossom Special is a story about the relationships people develop in the face of loss. And with the social upheaval that shook the 1960s, the friendships formed end up surprising all of those involved.

With a light and compassionate touch, Betsy Carter depicts a mother and daughter who create a family out of the people living at the crossroads— the Orange Blossom Special’ s designated rest stop, Gainesville, Florida.