Sweet Vidalia, Lisa Sandlin
Sweet Vidalia, Lisa Sandlin
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Sweet Vidalia

Author: Lisa Sandlin

Narrator: Janet Metzger

Unabridged: 7 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/03/2024


Synopsis

This life-affirming novel explores marriage, community, and the power of dignity for a fifty-seven-year-old woman forced to rebuild her life, unexpectedly and alone, in 1960s Texas—perfect for readers of Elizabeth Strout, Paulette Jiles, and Anne Tyler.
 
It’s 1964 and Eliza Kratke is mostly content. Married thirty years, she is long settled in Bayard, Texas with two grown children, a nice house, a little dog, and a routine. But her husband has a secret, and Eliza has not been brave enough to demand to know what it is.
 
So when her husband dies suddenly, the ground doesn’t just shift under Eliza’s feet—it falls away entirely, revealing that she has known nothing true about her life. How should she come to terms with all that has been a lie?
 
What emerges from this wreckage is a profoundly compelling portrait of a wonderfully nuanced woman, worn down like a gemstone to a core of durability and self-reliance as she fights for her own path forward. By taking business classes and moving into a hotel filled with aspiring young people, The Sweet Vidalia, Eliza gathers new friends and new possibilities. But with each of these, she finds that it isn't so simple to leave the past behind. Sweet Vidalia not only explores what it means to be honest with ourselves and with one another, but asks: what will we do with the truth when we find it?

About Lisa Sandlin

Lisa Sandlin was born in Beaumont, Texas, and grew up in oil-refinery air, sixty miles from the Gulf of Mexico. She raised a son in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then taught writing at the University of Nebraska for twenty years. She has since returned to Santa Fe. The Do-Right-her first novel-won the 2015 Hammett Award from the IACW/NA and the Best First Private Eye Prize from the Shamus Awards.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Janet on August 19, 2024

I narrated Sweet Vidalia for its upcoming release. I love to narrate character-driven novels. To say it was a joy to narrate doesn't even begin to cover all the feelings that were called up when reading her book and giving voice to the characters. The protagonist is the strongest woman I've read. Wh......more

Goodreads review by Dianne on December 28, 2024

This was just middle of the road for me. A good story but rather bland and unemotional considering the topic of the book. I never felt a connection to the main character at all and the emotional struggles of Eliza seemed dispassionate. I did admire Eliza's perseverance and ingenuity.......more

Goodreads review by Stacey on January 10, 2025

This was not what I expected it to be at all. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. From the beginning I was sucked right in and couldn't stop for fear of missing out on what happened next. As the story grew, I began to love Eliza and admired......more

Goodreads review by Paula on January 20, 2025

Sweet Vidalia—PG/PG13 Violence: threatened Language: about 35 including deity Sex: no I love origin stories of powerful women, and Eliza’s story is a great one. I cried in sympathy so many times, but it was Eliza’s empathy that was really moving. Her setbacks grew her into the woman she was destined to......more

Goodreads review by Elaine on February 20, 2025

Sweet vidalia. Eliza's story. A marriage she thought was strong, but turns out she had a deceitful husband. Eliza a middle aged woman, soon to be on her own, and life is so challenging. It's 1964. Things were totally different back then. But eliza is a strong woman, and she has so many obstacles to......more


Quotes

“Lisa Sandlin’s Sweet Vidalia does what the very best books do.  Eliza Kratke shows us with her courageous, steady enterprise how to brave life’s blows and start again, and again, every day. She is a heroine of the first order and I wish she lived next door.”—Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of The Summer We Started Over

“With her keen understanding of the human heart and a gift for laying it bare on the page, Lisa Sandlin has given us a beautiful story of what it takes to re-build a ruined life from the ground up. Readers will grieve with Eliza Kratke at the shocking upheaval in her marriage. They’ll rejoice at her spirit. When they finish the book, they’ll miss her. I certainly did.”  —Elizabeth Crook, author of The Madstone

“Poignant and uplifting, Sweet Vidalia is a beautifully written tribute to the courage of a woman wounded by life who, through steadfast determination, reclaims her self-esteem, and the joy of living.” —Kathleen Kent, bestselling author of Black Wolf and The Heretic’s Daughter

Sweet Vidalia the odyssey of a woman forced to rebuild her entire world. . . . Eliza's warmhearted matter-of-factness is her salvation, and her decision to care less about trust and more about humane survival and keeping her spirit uncorroded is doubly refreshing. Sandlin has written a page-turner of an unapologetically female adventure.”—Katherine Vaz, author of Above the Salt

Praise for the novels of Lisa Sandlin:

"[Lisa] Sandlin blends pathos, humor, and poetic prose in a strong debut."—Kirkus Reviews

"[W]hat makes this crime novel soar is the humanity and humility of its main characters. It is by turns exciting, tender, suspenseful, observant, and gently funny."—Publishers Weekly

"Sandlin knows the craft, no question. Her writing is finely cultivated; we can feel we intimately know her characters." —The Durango Telegraph