Episode 343: A Chat with Rosey Lee

The Because Fiction Podcast

Everyone knows I LOVE a good play on words, and when I listened to the audio sample of The Gardins of Edin, I was so excited that it really was a perfect one. But that's nothing to the story that unfolds in this book. Listen in to discover why Rosey Lee wrote this book.

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What could be cooler than four women of the Bible inspiring characters in a contemporary novel--four women who weren't ALL contemporaries of each other! You have Ruth and Naomi "types" and... Mary and Martha "types. Whoa.

A huge, multi-million-dollar business and a matriarch and a family who doesn't accept a daughter-in-law. Wow. It sounds amazing, and I can't wait to read it. My copy is here (Thank you, Rosey Lee!) and my audiobook is on my phone.

The Gardins of Edin by Rosey Lee

When the bonds in their family begin to fray, four Black women fight to preserve their legacy, heal their wounds, and move forward together in this heartwarming contemporary debut novel with loose parallels to beloved women from the Bible.

The four women of the Gardin family live side-by-side in Edin, Georgia, but residing in tight proximity doesn’t mean everything is picture-perfect. Ruth runs the family’s multimillion-dollar peanut business, a legacy of the Gardins’ formerly enslaved ancestors. But tensions have intensified since the death of her husband, Beau, and she feels like an outsider in the very place she wishes to belong.

Sisters Mary and Martha fuel the family tension. Martha’s unfounded mistrust of Ruth causes her to constantly seek ways to undermine Ruth’s decisions with the business, while Mary, trying to focus on her new restaurant that serves healthy comfort food, is dragged into the family fray by Martha.

For years, Naomi, the matriarch who raised the sisters after their parents’ death and supported Ruth in her grief, has played peacemaker. But as she decides to take a step back, hidden truths, life-and-death circumstances, and escalating clashes finally force the Gardin women to grapple with what it means to be a family.

A heartwarming Southern story of family and all its many complexities, The Gardins of Edin delivers a thoughtful portrayal of four women trying to hold on to their secrets. Women who just might—if they can only let go—find the peace they seek by holding on to one another.

Learn more about Rosey on her WEBSITE and follow her on GoodReads and BookBub.

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