The Orange Blossom Special [Hardcover]

Betsy Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2005

When we first meet Tessie Lockhart in 1958, she is pinning her hair into a French twist, dabbing Jean Naté on her wrists, and getting ready to change her life. This widowed mother of a thirteen-year-old has decided it's time for a fresh start for both of them, time to leave behind Carbondale, Illinois, and the pain of loss. Tessie and her daughter move to Gainesville, Florida, where they discover that they aren't the only ones struggling to move forward in the wake of tremendous grief.

Betsy Carter has perfectly captured both the innocence of the 1950s, when even the complex events of our lives seemed somehow easier to endure, and the startling and irreversible changes of the 1960s. A story about the relationships people develop in the face of loss, The Orange Blossom Special introduces us to a remarkable cast of characters, all of whom are tested—and transformed—by the changes in their midst.

In her own touching and funny style, Carter shows us the unexpected ways in which strangers can become family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title of Carter's sympathetic if somewhat contrived debut novel (she's the author of a memoir, Nothing to Fall Back On) refers to the first New York–to–Miami passenger train, a not-so-subtle metaphor for the American dream and the forward march of history, as the story hurtles from the late '50s and into the '80s. In 1958, comely widow Tessie Lockhart and her seventh-grade daughter, Dinah, uproot from Carbondale, Ill., to Gainesville, Fla., driven by a very American faith in the healing power of a fresh start. There, their lives intertwine with those of Gainesville's powerful Landy family, as Dinah's popular classmate Crystal Landy and her solemn older brother, Charlie, befriend Dinah. When the Landys' house burns down, killing their father, Dinah and Crystal form a special bond, speaking "the same language of loss" across the divide of class and social status. Even Tessie and supercilious matriarch Victoria Landy cement a rocky friendship, and over the years, a tumultuous love blossoms between Dinah and Charlie. Carter's plot skips lightly over the passing decades, which are marked by periodic eruptions of changing culture. Each incident of racial strife or Vietnam tragedy feels forced and representative, though, and as the novel barrels into the late–20th century like the titular locomotive, Carter sacrifices character development in her reach for historical import.
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From Booklist

Justly praised for her candid, humorous memoir, Nothing to Fall Back On (2002), magazine writer and editor Carter tries her hand at fiction in this affecting tale of widow Tess and her daughter, Dinah, who relocate to Gainesville, Florida, in 1958. They are soon virtually adopted by the wealthy Landy family, which includes pampered mom Victoria; teenager Charlie, who has the gift of second sight; and overweight, sassy seventh-grader Crystal. As the Landys help to ease their transition into southern small-town culture, Tess lands a good job and finds love with a jai alai mogul, and Dinah finds her soul mate in Charlie. Over the next two decades, they must all confront the changes brought on by Victoria's new business venture and Crystal's distress over Dinah and Charlie's relationship. The plot of this first novel seems overly thin at times, and the transitions between decades are sometimes too abrupt; yet there's no denying that the characters, drawn with fresh, often idiosyncratic detail, are instantly engaging. A light, funny read that also offers a distinctive sense of place. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1St Edition edition (June 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565124499
• ISBN-13: 978-1565124493
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,249,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You CAN judge this book by its gorgeous cover!, June 28, 2005

By 

Jean Seligmann "Jeanie" (Menemsha, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Orange Blossom Special (Hardcover)

As I reached page 250 of "The Orange Blossom Special," I started feeling depressed, not because the story is sad, but because I knew that I would soon have to bid farewell to Betsy Carter's cast of uncommonly endearing characters. By the end of the book, they seem like your old friends, and I'm still thinking about them several weeks after forcing myself to turn the last page. But giving these folks original, leap-off-the-page personalities is not Carter's only skill. In her debut novel, she takes us to a mid-twentieth-century Florida that is so far from the sophisticated, fast-moving Gotham of her earlier offspring, the much-mourned monthly New York Woman, that you actually feel sweaty and unhurried as you're reading it. But Carter the fiction writer still has the same crackling wit, fabulous eye for detail and enormous compassion for the human condition that made her magazine such a winner and her memoir, "Nothing To Fall Back On," so appealing. The 1950s and 60s are vividly evoked here through the language and attitudes of the characters, historical and cultural events and references (Vietnam, Anita Bryant, even Davey Crockett) and all those great songs....In fact, the only way the book could be improved would be to have it include a soundtrack CD!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, May 24, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Orange Blossom Special (Hardcover)

Betsy Carter, author of The Orange Blossom Special, gives readers an intimate look at a different time in our country. The time is the late 1950s where we find an uncomplicated sort of innocence, to the 1960s that are filled with turbulence and unrest.

The Orange Blossom Special is the first passenger train to connect New York to Miami. Tess, a widow of two years, and her daughter Dinah, who has lost her lust for life, decide to leave Carbondale to create a new life for themselves in Gainesville, Florida; the destination of the Orange Blossom Special.

People often say that you can't choose your family but you can choose your friends. In The Orange Blossom Special, Tess and Dinah create family by choosing them from various people they meet along the way. And through various trials and tribulations they ultimately realize that they have found their place - and it's called home.

Betsy Carter has a distinct voice and writes with humor and compassion. She is only going to improve with each book. I love the way she views the world, and I enjoy the multi-layered, rich characters in her book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Read, July 18, 2005

By 

A. Gingold (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Orange Blossom Special (Hardcover)

Betsy Carter's The Orange Blossom Special is so well-stocked with characters, events and tangible energy that it's hard to believe it's less than 300 pages long. Set in Florida, mostly during the 50's and 60's, the book follows the intertwined lives of a couple of teenage girls, their friends and families. Carter gets all the details right. Her senses of place and time are pitch perfect, from her description of the toniest beauty parlor in town to her evocation of a sultry Florida night. She knows what teenagers of the day wore and worried about, and she knows what their mothers cooked and worried about. Humane, funny and beautifully written, this book is so full of life it breathes. Highly recommended.