The Orange Blossom Special A Novel

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 Tessie's 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 meetsand 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.

BETSY CARTER, formerly at Esquire and Newsweek, was founder of the award-winning New York Woman. She also served as executive editor at Harper's Bazaar and later New Woman, and in 1999 launched My Generation, a magazine for baby boomers. She is currently writing for several national magazines, and is the author of the bestselling memoir Nothing to Fall Back On.