Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale [Hardcover]

Lynda Rutledge (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 26, 2012

On the last day of the millennium, sassy Faith Bass Darling, the richest old lady in Bass, Texas, decides to have a garage sale. With help from a couple of neighborhood boys, Faith lugs her priceless Louis XV elephant clock, countless Tiffany lamps, and everything else from her nineteenth-century mansion out onto her long, sloping lawn.

Why is a recluse of twenty years suddenly selling off her dearest possessions? Becasue God told her to.

As the townspeople grab up five generations of heirlooms, everyone drawn to the sale--including Faith's lon-lost daughter--finds that the antiques not only hold family secrets but also inspire some of life's most imponderable questions: Do our possessions possess us? What are we without our memories? Is there life after death or second chances here on earth? And is Faith really selling that Tiffany lamp for $1?

READERS GUIDE INCLUDED

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] spectacular novel. Put a sticker on this one, it’s a keeper.” —Adriana Trigiani, New York Times–bestselling author of Home to Big Stone Gap and the Valentine series

“A joy to read—I loved every page. Treat yourself to this luminous, enchanting story.” —Haywood Smith, New York Times–bestselling author of The Red Hat Club

“I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a first novel so much. Eerie, charming, heartrending, and heartbreaking at the same time, Rutledge’s novel is a triumph.” —W. P. (Bill) Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe, the basis for the blockbuster movie Field of Dreams

About the Author

Lynda Rutledge, a fifth-generation Texan, has petted baby rhinos, snorkeled with endangered turtles, and dodged hurricanes as a freelance journalist, while winning awards for her fiction. She and her husband live outside Austin. This is her debut novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam; First Edition edition (April 26, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399157190
• ISBN-13: 978-0399157196
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynda Rutledge has petted baby rhinos, snorkeled with endangered turtles, and dodged hurricanes as a freelance journalist while winning awards and residencies for her creative writing from the Illinois Arts Council, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Ragdale Foundation, and Writers League of Texas. A fifth generation Texan, she's lived/worked/studied in Chicago, San Diego, New Orleans and Madrid among other heres and theres around the globe. She and her husband currently live outside Austin, nailing up signs for "Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale."

For an excerpt, events, and some garage sale blog fun,visit her website: www.lyndarutledge.com (Also catch her on Facebook and Twitter: @LyndaRutledge)

"Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale" was recently named to the Texas Library Association's "2013 Lariat List" of the Best Novels published in 2012.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget What Best Selling Authors Say - Take It From A Picky Reader - This Is Worth A Million Stars! March 28, 2012

By Elly Sparks VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I never pay attention to the praise "blurbs" plastered on a book cover by "Best Selling Authors." I've worked in the publishing business and I know that a majority of the time, those authors haven't even read the book, they are simply helping each other out.
HOWEVER.
I'm quite sure the "famous" blurbs on Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale are true - because I, a very very very picky reader, opened the first page and couldn't put the book down!
I recently read a best selling author's most recent book and it really lacked a plot, was very character driven. While this does have a plot, it meanders, it winds slowly, however, in a wonderful, delightful awesome way. Like driving on the back roads to the beach on a beautiful summer morning and being struck by how green the trees are, how the sun drapes everything in a marmalade glow.
The characters are flawed, yet drawn in such a way that you instantly make a spot for them in your heart. The writing, Southern and luxurious with a bit of bite like a Kentucky bourbon pecan pie.
I can't remember being this excited about a book (more importantly, a new author) in a long, long time.
It doesn't matter what this book is about, because the author could probably write about walking to the mailbox and turn it into a masterpiece.
Do you get that I love this book?
It is about family, forgiveness, secrets, misunderstandings, friendships told in the course of a day during which aging but feisty Faith Bass Darling is practically giving away family heirlooms in an estate sale that she hastily put together on the morning of Dec 31, 1999.
As a Vine Reviewer, we have many, many, books to choose from. Most I end up choosing end up being "blah" as I'm hard to please. I am SO HAPPY I choose this (love a good Southern story) but I feel like I won the lottery because it is THAT good. I will be buying a copy when it officially comes out, and I will be buying copies for my friends/family who are readers.
Put this on top of your "MUST BUY" - and if you're like me -I rarely buy a book on Kindle if it is over 9.99 unless I REALLY THINK I'm going to love it - if this book is more than 9.99 on Kindle, I say, BUY IT! If you "sample it" and you love the preview, I can assure you, it starts off great, but continues to build and the strength of the writing and story stay consistently wonderful and interesting until the final conclusion.
Simply. Wonderful!!!!!!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the read - so many questions answered! April 26, 2012

By Barbara Bell VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I just finished this book, and while I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, it was fabulously entertaining. One by one, a cast of characters from this little Texas town were introduced. Each with a distinct personality, each with a memory or a thought about the Bass/Darling family.

What starts out as an ordinary garage sale on the last day of the previous millenium, turns into a day of redemption and reckoning. We learn the truths of these characters in a way that makes us root for each of them and their own personal battles.

You will be intrigued to find out why Faith Bass Darling is emptying her mansion of antiques and selling everything for next to nothing. Spanish linin tablecloths - 10 for $1. Dining room table - $20. Four poster Chippendale bed - $20.

You will be interested to hear about Bobbi, who went to the mansion only once as a child, but it became her dream to know more about these treasures.

You will be fascinated by the elephant clock, a treasure of epic proportions, that is worth of a museum, not just a big ol' mansion in a small Texas town.

You will fall in love with the Deputy Sheriff who has a history and a deep dark secret and looks out for Mrs. Darling.

You will loathe Claude Angus Darling, the deceased husband of Faith, who was not kind to his wife, to his children, to his children's friends.

You will love that the water lily painting - through divine intervention - makes it back home.

You will love the feeling of coming home that was written into the pages of this book, no matter where you grew up or where you currently live.

You will want to purchase this book because the read is so worth it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars What is the Value of Possessions? April 17, 2012

By Holly Weiss VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

While the world braces for computer chaos on the eve before Y2K, Faith Bass Darling has a different priority. She is the sole occupant of the family mansion in Bass, Texas. On December 31, 1999 she decides she will die the next day. To prepare, seventy-year-old Faith dons her best white summer dress and matching sun hat. She pays teenage boys to carry her belongings out onto the big wrap-around porch and front lawn. Tiffany lamps, an antique French clock, and an heirloom wedding ring from 1870 are some of the "bargains" she tags for a garage sale. Her Alzheimer disease hides any memory of the care given to these heirlooms by generations of her family.

Faith's life is told in a series of flashbacks. Her family losses are moving and sensitively told. Her garage sale and bargain-pricing of invaluable items show she puts little stock in worldly possessions. What ultimately matters to Faith Bass Darling is freedom from her mind, which she constantly struggles to keep intact.

Ironic and interesting are the sections titled "Provenance" where the author values and explains the history behind the "priceless" items Faith sells for a pittance. The book draws a line between rich and poor and is an important message that wealth doesn't necessarily bring happiness. Well-written and original, Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale is a debut deserving of your attention.

Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont