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Unconvincing,
Boring,
Slow

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Things Left Unspoken: A Novel

by Eva Marie Everson

Published: 2009-06-01
Paperback : 384 pages

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2 clubs reading this now
2 members have read this book

Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 2 members

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Introduction

Jo Lynn Hunter is at a crossroads in life when her greataunt Stella insists that she return home to restore the old family house in sleepy Cottonwood, Georgia. Seeing the project as the perfect excuse for some therapeutic time away from her selfabsorbed husband and his snobby Atlanta friends, Jo Lynn longs to get her teeth into a noteworthy and satisfying project. But things are not what they seem, both in the house and within the complex history of her family. Was her greatgrandfather the pillar of the community she thought he was? What is Aunt Stella hiding? And will Jo Lynn's marriage survive the renovation? Jo Lynn isn't sure she wants to know the truthbut sometimes the truth has a way of making itself known.The past comes alive in this wellwritten and thoughtful novel full of secrets, drama, and family with a hint of Southern drawl.

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

In the early days, beyond the rose-covered trellises on the back porch, perfect rows of vegetables for canning and freezing were planted, both for our family and for neighbors in need when there was abundance. Standing behind the small garden was the farm. It extended alongside the highway that ran beside the left side of the house. The crops stretched toward the horizon and out of sight, interrupted only by the leaning of an old barn, the rise of a tin silo, or the deliberate movement of a John Deere tractor.

But those days were long gone. That was a time when everything seemed to be about life and living. These past few decades, the earth hadn’t been tilled or loved. No planting, no praying for rain, no harvesting. Nothing to show for what had been except the gray of the packed soil and an occasional twig rising up from out of the ground, a remnant of the last crop. Of what my great-grandparents had built, only the big house remained and it was a part of the remnant of what had at one time been a thriving farm in Cottonwood, Georgia.

I blinked several times and brushed away those memories of life. There was too much heartache in the moment to allow myself to remain within them. Now was a time to reflect on death and dying. I could sit here and commiserate, and no one would be the wiser as to the depths I was falling. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

In your way of thinking, what is the difference between renovation and preservation?
What is Jo-Lynn’s memory of Uncle Jim connected her to his spiritual life?
Have you ever felt like Jo-Lynn: totally in the world and yet completely out of sorts with it. How’d you get through it?
Describe Jo-Lynn’s relationships between her and various members of her family.
What “characters” in Things Left Unspoken’s cast of characters did you feel as though you connected to?
Do Jo-Lynn and Evan really love each other or is theirs a marriage of convenience and comfort? Where do you think their marriage went wrong?
Why do you think God never allowed Stella and Valentine to come back together?
Do you think you could love a child in the way Stella chose to love Bettina? What characteristic of God do you see in the way Stella chose to handle her situation?
Why was the discovery of Cottonwood’s secrets so important/devasting to
Jo-Lynn?
Jo-Lynn felt the issue of “legacy” to be very important. What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?
What prejudices have you had to overcome in your life? What sacrifices have you had to make? What secrets have you had to keep?
At the end of Things Left Unspoken Jo-Lynn and Evan have reached a compromise of sorts. Describe it from both points of view. Is Evan really the mayor of Cottonwood?

Suggested by Members

What family secrets are you aware of that this book might have inspired you to dig into, find out more?

Will you find yourself sharing some of your family's past with your own children now that you've read this book?

by Fleabyte (see profile) 06/15/09

Weblinks

»	Author's Website
»	Publisher's website

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

One gray February afternoon, I was sitting on the back patio of my home, rocking in the front porch rocker that had come off of my great-grandparents home; thinking about the day my uncle Jimmy was buried.

It snowed that day. Not a blinding kind of snow. This was, I thought, angels dancing on air.

A “first line” came to mind. I jumped up, ran to my office, and started typing. I thought about the woman who bought my ancestral home, a woman named Caren-with-a C, and how she’d promised to restore the house only to let it sit and rot.

A story was born of a woman who never had children, who thought because of that choice she’d not have a legacy to leave, a woman whose great-Uncle Jim had died and that when he was buried, “angels danced on air.” Aunt Stella (in the book) was created in the image of my great-Aunt Della.

Several years ago I stayed in a rustic inn where giant black and white portraits of locals from bygone eras were displayed. One was of a man, dressed in overalls, long white hair and beard prominent under a soiled farmer’s hat. The man’s name was Valentine. This portrait has stayed with me ever since. Valentine Bach was born from that picture.

All of this went into the creating of a story (completely of my own making) of two generations of townspeople, one greatly affected by the other’s life decisions. I hope that as readers read (and enjoy!) the Things Left Unspoken, they will see how every life le aves a legacy just by being and that within every family are things never spoken of but impact others just the same.

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 2 members.

Southern Comfort

by Fleabyte (see profile) 06/15/09

Definitely a coffee, sweet tea, fried chicken and potato salad type of book. Topped with banana cream pudding with those little nilla wafers on the edges.

Member Reviews

Overall rating:

by Adrienne A. (see profile) 10/22/14

"Secrets of the South"by Flea C. (see profile) 06/15/09

Ms. Everson brought the Deep South alive in this novel. The characters got into my head, broadened my perspective, broke my heart. I love that she didn't torture her characters throughout the book, that... (read more)

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