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English Mill Press
February 2006
398 pages
ISBN: 0977218708
Trade Size
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Fiction
Welcome to the 1950's where four uniquely intriguing
families are in search of the American dream. In BETTER
DAYS AHEAD, debut novelist Charlie Valentine
brings mid-century America to dazzling life in this
enthralling tale of passion, power, and betrayal that
sweeps from the Midwest to the deep South to the West
Coast. During the course of this dramatic saga, readers will be
enthralled with these four interwoven stories and will
relate to the sacrifices each family must make and the
consequences they must live by in order to realize their
visions for a better way of life. We meet:
Sarah Robbins, a lounge singer with a drinking problem from
Cleveland. Her life will soon change forever when she
discovers at the last possible moment that she is pregnant.
Readers will become acquainted with her adorable son,
Billy; her business partner, Sam; her svengali, Judge Henry
Kinslow; and her lover, Jack Stratton. Neil Dvorak, a Detroit native with exquisite taste in
woodworking and rotten taste in women. After his first
wife, Janet, is caught in a bold affair, he leaves her and
loses his beloved daughter, Amy, in the process. Neil
thinks his luck has changed when he meets Anne -
a "respectable and kind" woman, but after she gives birth
to baby Victoria, Anne's true nature emerges with
unforgivable consequences. Dolores Drake, a devoted mother of two teenage daughters,
with a baby boy on the way. She works long hours in a local
Alabama sweatshop to provide for her two teenage daughters
and her drunk, abusive creep of a husband. The rest of her
hours are spent keeping her children safe from the clutches
of her leering husband and warding off his drunken blows to
her unborn baby. When she finally gains the courage to
leave him and accepts the help of Ruthie Jackson, a black
woman in town, ugly racism bubbles to the surface and lives
are changed irrevocably. David and Karen Stratton, the California golden couple who
has everything going for them - stunning looks, excellent
breeding, the best educations, and wealth. But even the
Strattons are not immune to loss and tragedy as they learn
when David becomes way too close to one particular client,
Jessica Heisen. Eventually, circumstances compel three of these families to
head West to California in search of a fresh start for
their children. No one can predict the high-stakes drama
and devastating results that ensue when their lives
intersect. BETTER DAYS AHEAD is filled with historical detail, drama,
and romantic intensity. With moving prose, Charlie
Valentine tantalizes readers with a captivating saga that
explores the struggles of love, hope, disappointment, and
loneliness - universal themes that touch us all.
Ultimately, this tale, the first in a trilogy, is a story
of possibilities and hope...of BETTER DAYS AHEAD.
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