A moving debut novel about the intricacies of family and spirituality, for readers of Pat conroy, Kate Atkinson, Elizabeth Strout or Marilynne Robinson.

THE SWEET TASTE OF MUSCADINES
by Pamela Terry
Ballantine, September 2020

…“The first time Mama died I ran off to hide in the muscadine arbor.”

So begins the story of Lila Bruce-Breedlove. After her mother dies for the second, and very last, time, Lila and her brother, Henry, travel back to their small Southern hometown to find nothing is quite what they expected. Hometowns always hold secrets and when those of Lila’s family are unearthed they prompt a reevaluation of everything she thought to be true, leading Lila and Henry on a journey to places neither ever expected where they learn things are frequently not all they seem. THE SWEET TASTE OF MUSCADINES is set against the backdrops of coastal Maine, the deep South and the Scottish Hebrides. With wit and compassion it faces down the more painful parts of a South that continues to value appearances over truth, and where too often its citizens still struggle to live an honest life with joy. It is a surprising tale of redemption and forgiveness. The Bruce family history is unique, yet universal, and it is not one you will soon forget.

For the past decade Pamela Terry has been the author of the internationally popular blog, FROM THE HOUSE OF EDWARD, which was named one of the top ten home blogs by London’s Daily Telegraph in 2012. A lifelong Southerner, she learned the power of storytelling at a very early age. Pamela lives in Smyrna, Georgia with her songwriter husband, Pat, and their two dogs.