Publication Date: May 2021

Synopsis:

Magnolia, South Carolina, 1980: Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.

Scratching out a living on the family’s tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.

Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her–with the son of a wealthy local family who she’s crushed on for years–her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family’s secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth. 

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What To Expect:

In Under the Magnolias, you can expect a gritty coming of age story. Austin is a teenager girl left to deal with the struggles of raising her siblings due to her father’s secret mental health problems. While it does deal with heavy topics, the story is also graceful and hopeful.

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Content Warnings:

Language: None

Sexual Content: Kissing only, mentions of attraction

Violence: Mild – Suicide is attempted on more than one occasion in different manners. While it is described, it is not overly graphic.

Substance Use: Mild – Some use of alcohol

Prejudices: Mild – There is prejudice toward African Americans & Jews in the book in one specific scene, but the main characters stand up against racism

Religious Themes: Religious themes are prevalent all throughout the book with one of the main characters being a preacher and looking to God as the source of all comfort and hope for eternity and healing.

Other Topics: *Possible spoiler* Loss of a mother in childbirth, nearly losing babies

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