Ya-Yas in Bloom

Rebecca Wells’s wonderful third book in her Ya-Ya trilogy, which includes
Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya
Sisterhood, is sure to provide reading that makes you laugh and cry, a
book that will break your heart and mend it again.

Ya-Yas in Bloom reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas’ friendship in the
1930s, following Vivi, Teensy, Caro and Necie through sixty years of
marriage, child-raising, and hair-raising family secrets.

When four-year-old Teensy Whitman prisses one time too many and stuffs a big
old pecan up her nose, she sets off the chain of events that lead Vivi,
Teensy, Caro, and Necie to become true sister-friends. Using as narration
the alternating voices of Vivi and the Petite Ya-Yas, Siddalee and Baylor
Walker, as well as other denizens of Thornton, Louisiana, Wells show us the
Ya-Yas in love and at war with convention. Through crises of faith and
hilarious lapses of parenting skills, brushes with alcoholism and glimpses
of the dark reality of racial bigotry, the Ya-Ya values of unconditional
loyalty, high style, and Louisiana sass shine through.

But in the Ya-Yas’ inimitable way, these four remarkable women also teach
their children about the Mysteries: the wonder of snow in the deep South,
the possibility that humans are made of stars, and the belief that miracles
do happen. And they need a miracle when old grudges and wounded psyches lead
to a heartbreaking crime…and the dynamic web of sisterhood is the only
safety net strong enough to hold families together and endure.

After two bestsellers and a blockbuster movie, the Ya-Yas have become part
of American culture — icons for the power of women’s friendship. Ya-Yas
in Bloom continues the saga, giving us more Ya-Ya lore, spun out in the
rich patois of the Louisiana bayou country and brim full of the Ya-Ya
message to embrace life and each other with joy.