From extreme ends of the United States, Randa Jennings and
Katie Harder find they have jointly inherited the very old
and unique Venable Opera House. They are in a quandary as
to why it's been left to them; two women who are complete
opposites and have never before met. Katie is a talented
writer and has the ambition to become a writer of novels
and theater plays. Both are assuming they are in some way
related to the Venable family.
Katie and Randa arrive in Georgia for the reading of the
will. Randa's daughter is a computer whiz and thrilled with
the history and story of the opera house after searching on
the Internet. In checking the genealogy sites, Susan finds
information of the strong line of Venable women, which
reveals their struggle to keep the opera house within the
family. Deep secrets held by the Venable women of their
drastic and surprising actions to keep the struggling opera
house in operation for the past 100 years are revealed.
Randa is a talent agent and Katie, being the daughter of an
actress, writes episodes for the TV series in which her
mother performed prior to her death. Against their better
judgments, they have a reluctant desire to restore the old
opera house rather than sell it to be destroyed.
There are many surprises throughout FAMILY ACTS of the
history of the opera house and the lineage connected with
it. Not only are you involved in the current happenings,
but also taken back to each generation and the secrets they
hold, which makes the characters human and gives the story
depth. It's an enjoyable, well-written novel that easily
kept my interest.
Katie Harder and Randa Jennings live on opposite coasts,
have never met, and have almost nothing in common – except
that they’re both named after Shakespearean characters.
Everything Katie has ever done or possessed – her New York
City co-op, her career as a writer for a daytime drama–was
given to her by her late mother, in her day a flamboyant
soap opera queen. Randa, on the other hand, has escaped the
trappings of a difficult past and forged a life as a single
mom, juggling her work as a Hollywood business manager with
the needs of her precocious 11-year-old daughter.
Life takes an unpredictable turn for these two strangers
when they jointly inherit the century-old Venable Opera
House, a stately but run-down theater in small-town
Georgia. Puzzled at this peculiar legacy, Katie and Randa
are at first eager to unload their white elephant. But as
they spend more time in the old theater, they come to
realize that a rich heritage is at stake. A line of strong
women–starting with Juliet Venable in the late nineteenth
century–has been responsible for keeping the grand old
place up and running. In the face of huge obstacles,
including a dying theater culture and their own personal
struggles, these singular women have gone to drastic
measures to keep the opera house in the family–including
burying a devastating family secret that could destroy the
carefully cultivated Venable legend forever.
Now, as a local contractor seeks to tear down the landmark,
Katie and Randa must decidenot only if they want to unravel
their mysterious connection to the theater and maintain its
tradition but if they have what it takes to keep the
Venable family legacy alive.
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