Synopses & Reviews
From the New York Times bestselling author of GARDEN SPELLS comes a story of the Waverley family, in a novel as sparkling as the first dusting of frost on new-fallen leaves...It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree... and all the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store.Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverleys Candies. Though her handcrafted confections—rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds—are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts.
Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby— a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.
Sydneys daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.
Lose yourself in Sarah Addison Allen's enchanting world and fall for her charmed characters in this captivating story that proves that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. Its where the real story begins.
Review
Praise for
Lost Lake"You will love going to Lost Lake with Sarah Addison Allen and meeting all the fascinating characters who live there. This book is filled with mystery, magic, and wonderful surprises!" —Fannie Flagg
"Lost Lake is a love note to second chances, hopeful and entrancing, and I couldnt put it down." —Joshilyn Jackson"Sarah Addison Allen delivers a feel-good story with touches of magic." -Entertainment Weekly
"This imaginative, lyrical novel is an intricate web of magical misfits, Southern gothic charm and the power of new possibilities, both romantic and redemptive." -NPR"Her eccentric cast of characters and charming Southern setting will win readers over." -Publishers Weekly
"Readers will want to release their cares and woes for full immersion in this novels magical setting." -Library Journal
"This endearing tale of surprising second chances may just be her wisest work yet." —Booklist (starred review)
"A feast of words…This is a story of love, loss, grief, and starting over—it is truly a treat to be savored." —RT Book Reviews
Synopsis
Featuring characters from her beloved novel, Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen's new novel picks up ten years after that eventful summer when Claire Waverly's wild half-sister Sydney returned to Bascom and Claire met her now-husband Tyler. Things have settled down and Claire finds she has slipped back into a place of tightly sequestered sameness. It's comfortable. She likes it. But when her father Russell shows up he brings with him information that Claire doesn't want to hear and that will challenge everything she thought she knew about herself. Filled with Sarah Addison Allen's characteristic magic and warmth, this novel will reveal how the people who come into your life may not be the ones you expect, but they're there for a reason. And they don't change your one true voice, they make it louder.
Synopsis
Sarah Addison Allen, beloved author of
Garden Spells, returns with a luminous story of the trouble with hanging on too long, and the magic that happens when you finally let go.
Autumn has finally arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, heralded by a strange old man appearing with a beat-up suitcase. He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever. But the Waverleys have enough trouble on their hands. Quiet Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverleys Candies, but its nothing like she thought it would be, and its slowly taking over her life. Claires wild sister Sydney, still trying to leave her past behind, is about to combust with her desire for another new beginning. And Sydneys fifteen-year-old daughter Bay has given her heart away to the wrong boy and cant get it back.
From the author of the New York Times bestselling sensation Garden Spells, First Frost is magical and atmospheric, taking readers back into the lives of the gifted Waverley women—back to their strange garden and temperamental apple tree, back to their house with a personality of its own, back to the men who love them fiercely—proving that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. Its where the real story begins.
About the Author
SARAH ADDISON ALLEN is the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells, The Sugar Queen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, The Peach Keeper, and Lost Lake. She was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina.