With her second novel, Mindy Friddle expertly takes the conventions of a typical Southern dynasty story and transforms them into something wholly original. When her husband dies on the eve of their impending European vacation, housewife Emma Hanley watches her dreams of world travel vanish even as she becomes more immersed in the lives of her two living children. 'Friddle's beguiling second novel is a poignant and reassuring tale of regret and redemption.'-Booklist