From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends and Before We Were Yours comes a heartfelt novel about the bonds of family and the power of second chances.
When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother’s Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who’s become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart.
Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandma’s journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of stories that celebrate the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Kate see her life—and her grandmother—in a completely new way...
Review
Praise for Tending Roses
“Richly emotional and spiritual, Tending Roses affected me from the first page. A story at once gentle and powerful about the very old and the very young, about the young woman who loves them all. In Kate, Lisa Wingate has created a wonderful character.”—New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice
“Stop what you are doing and experience Tending Roses...A rich story of family and faith.”—New York Times bestselling author Lynne Hinton
“Wingate’s touching story of love and faith proves the old adage that we should take time to smell the roses and try to put our modern problems in perspective.”—Booklist
“You can’t put it down without...taking a good look at your own life and how misplaced priorities might have led to missed opportunities. Tending Roses is an excellent read for any season, a celebration of the power of love.”—El Paso Times
“This novel’s strength is its believable characters...Many readers will see themselves in Kate, who is so wrapped up in her own problems that she fails to see the worries of others.”—American Profiles Weekly Magazine
“Get your tissues or handkerchief ready. You’re going to need them when you read Lisa Wingate’s book, Tending Roses. Your emotions will run the gamut from laughing loudly to shedding tears as you read the story.”—McAlester News-Capital & Democrat
About the Author
Lisa Wingate is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty novels. She is known for combining elements of Southern storytelling, mystery, and history to create novels hailed by Publishers Weekly as “Masterful.” Her novel, Before We Were Yours, remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over five months and has been translated into thirty-five languages. While her work has received many awards, she most treasures the National Civics Award, awarded by the kindness watchdog organization Americans for More Civility, to recognize public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. She believes that stories can change the world.
Chapter 1
Indian wisdom says our lives are rivers. We are born somewhere small and quiet and we move toward a place we can not see, but only imagine. Along our journey, people and events flow into us, and we are created of everywhere and everyone we have passed. Each event, each person, changes us in some way. Even in times of drought we are still moving and growing, but it is during seasons of rain that we expand the most—when water flows from all directions, sweeping at terrifying speed, chasing against rocks, spilling over boundaries. These are painful times, but they enable us to carry burdens we could never have thought possible.
This I learned from my grandmother, when my life was rushing with torrential speed and hers was slowly ebbing into the sea. I think it was God's plan that we came together at this time. To carry each other's burden. To remind ourselves of what we had been and would someday become.
Floods are painful, but they are necessary. They keep us clear and strong. They move our lives onto new paths.
