She made herself see Robert with the kids, telling stories of crafty, talking rabbits and determined turtles, his face bright with meanings, with silliness. Made herself see the two of them laughing together in bed, they had done that. That was true. Through the years, they'd had happiness and closeness. They had.

'Poignant and uplifting, Sweet Vidalia is a beautifully written tribute to the courage of a woman wounded by life who, through steadfast determination, reclaims her self-esteem, and the joy of living' Kathleen Kent, bestselling author of Black Wolf and The Heretic's Daughter

'With her keen understanding of the human heart and a gift for laying it bare on the page, Lisa Sandlin has given us a beautiful story of what it takes to re-build a ruined life from the ground up. Readers will grieve with Eliza Kratke at the shocking upheaval in her marriage. They'll rejoice at her spirit. When they finish the book, they'll miss her. I certainly did' Elizabeth Crook, author of The Madstone

'The odyssey of a woman forced to rebuild her entire world... Eliza's warmhearted matter-of-factness is her salvation, and her decision to care less about trust and more about humane survival and keeping her spirit uncorroded is doubly refreshing. Sandlin has written a page-turner of an unapologetically female adventure' Katherine Vaz, author of Above the Salt

'Lisa Sandlin's Sweet Vidalia does what the very best books do. Eliza Kratke shows us with her courageous, steady enterprise how to brave life's blows and start again, and again, every day. She is a heroine of the first order and I wish she lived next door' Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of The Summer We Started Over