From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of the classic, captivating, and scandalous Mama Ruby series, comes a church-going matriarch's rags to riches Depression era story set in the Deep South. The respectable family she has built means everything to her, and she'll do anything to keep them.

The daughter of a prostitute mother and an alcoholic father, Maggie Franklin knew her only way out was to marry...

A solid marriage, a thriving business, and the esteem of their close-knit Alabama community--Joyce and Odell Watson have every reason to count their blessings. Their marriage has given well-off Joyce a chance at the family she's always wanted--and granted Odell a once-in-a-lifetime shot to escape grinding poverty. But all that respectability and status comes at a cost. Just once, Joyce and Odell want to break loose and taste life's wild side, without...

Volunteering at a soup kitchen during the Christmas season to navigate midlife doubts, Beatrice Powell finds unexpected comfort in a relationship with a homeless man, Charles Davenport, who was driven to a life on the streets after the devastating loss of his family. Beatrice Powell is volunteering at a soup kitchen during the Christmas season to quiet her change-of-life doubts. She reaches out to help Charles Davenport, who was driven to a life...