Amanda Cox wrecked me with her first book, The Edge of Belonging. And now she has another book coming out, another one set to destroy me as well. The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery is a multi-generational and split-time story. Even the synopsis wrecked me!
I’m starting to get a complex. Is there something really wrong with me or really right with her writing.
I bet you all know what I think! Listen in!
Amanda Cox Will Take You on an Incredible Emotional Journey
I’m beginning to think that split-time authors offer something a little extra special. After all, you get a peek into the past and get to watch it unfold, unsure how it’ll affect the present… until it does. One book that did this for me was The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox.
This split-time novel takes us back twenty-some-odd years and then into the present in a story so beautiful and gripping you won’t know what hit you. Most books have titles that give you a hint of what the story is about, but I’ve never seen a book that gave you, right there on the first page, such insight into that title as I got from The Edge of Belonging.
Look at this:
“To have a home, you’d have to feel as if you belonged. The edge of the highway was the closest he’d ever been.”
If that doesn’t tell all without telling anything, I don’t know what does. And seriously, This is one of those books that lived up to the hype. I saw it EVERYWHERE a year or two ago, and when it finally arrived at my house and I had to stop reading to get a book done early… AAAAK! Can I just say, AAAK?
One of the most enjoyable parts of this episode for me was hearing the story of what sparked the idea for the story. First, prayer… then an answer in a way no one would ever expect.
And now Amanda Cox has done it again.
Recently, I’ve been seeing this amazing book cover with an intriguing title. The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery. So, when I figured out that the “Amanda Cox” I’d be interviewing about that book was the author of the book I’d already preordered without even reading the synopsis… Yes, I did that! Well…
I went and read it.
Guys, even the synopsis of this book wrecked me.
As Amanda Cox told about these women’s story, I couldn’t help but think one element reminded me a tiny bit of The Magic of Ordinary Days–the movie with Kerri Russel and Skeeter Davis, not the book with “stuff” that it didn’t need. 😉
That is one of my all-time favorite movies, so now I’m even more excited to read about why these women do and don’t awant to close this grocery store and which one will convince the youngest to vote “her way.”
When Amanda isn’t writing stories that tear at your heartstrings…
(And she uses every bit of her knowledge of counseling to ensure they do), she likes to read books that are totally forgettable. OR maybe that me putting her on the spot made her forget..? I forget now… 😉
Recently (or at least as of when we chatted), she’s read:
- A Mosaic of Wings (set in India) by Kimberly Duffy
- The Sowing Season by Katie Powner
- A Flicker of Light by Roberta Kagen
- A Long Time Comin’ by Robin W. Pearson
The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox
Present Day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasons–but she’ll certainly never reveal the real one.
1965. Glory Ann confesses to her family that she’s pregnant with her deceased fiancé’s baby. Pressured into a marriage of convenience with a shopkeeper to preserve the family reputation, Glory Ann vows never to love again. But some promises are not as easily kept as she imagined.
This dual-timeline story from Amanda Cox deftly explores the complexity of a mother-daughter dynamic, the way the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of others, and the healing power of telling the truth.
Preorder your copy NOW! Releases September 7, 2021!
You can find Amanda Cox on her WEBSITE.
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