Amanda in the Summer Excerpt

Three generations of women…and the secret that strengthens their love.

A line of women, all named Amanda, stretches back for generations. Each with her hopes, her joys, her pain—each pouring out her heart in correspondence with a dear family friend who shares their lives, understands their loves, and joins in their sorrows.

But within the correspondence lies a secret. And as the youngest of the Amandas retraces the journey through the years—beginning in post-war America and following through to modern day—the letters reveal, layer by layer, the Amandas who came before her. Soon, the truths and lies hidden in the letters lead her down a path of self-discovery that forges a bond between her past and future.

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Brenda spends most of her time writing stories of discovery and love. The rest of her time is spent tending vegetables on the small family farm she shares with her husband, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Together, they’ve embraced an age-old lifestyle that has been mostly lost in the United States - multiple generations living under one roof, who share the workload, follow their individual dreams and reap the benefits of combined talents.

Although she didn’t start out to write romance, she’s found all good stories involve complicated human relationships. She’s also found no matter a person’s age, a new discovery is right around every corner. Whether humorous or serious, straight contemporary or mystery, all her books revolve around those two facts.

Visit Brenda - Website / FaceBook / Twitter 

She blogs on the 9^th and 24^th of every month at Roses of Prose 

She blogs about writing and prairie life on her Blog

Excerpt:

August 24, 1968

Dear Tilly,

A few days of bliss with no one to talk to but the

seagulls. I have you to thank for this. I’m so glad you

popped back after Amanda, Robert, and Mother left. The

strain I put on all of us while you were here would’ve

dragged on for who knows how long if you hadn’t

returned. Once again, Tilly, you read the tea leaves and

righted things.

My moods have been so ragged of late. Jealousy of

all things. Jealous that you could talk to my daughter,

get along so lovely with her, which I’ve had difficulty

doing these last few months. Jealous of your longer

running friendship with Robert than with me. I’m not

sure if I was jealous of him or you. You’re both mine.

And angry that the two of you are uncomfortable around

each other after so many years and not making sense of

that. When Robert left, I tried to give him the blue

swimsuit you had left behind and asked him to drop in

on you to return it. He said no, I could do it when I got

back. This was so unlike him and did more to unsettle

me...