The Things I Know Best [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Lynne Hinton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2002

The townsfolk in Pleasant Cross, North Carolina, carry a healthy suspicion of the three generations of Ivy women. Each Ivy woman has been blessed with the gift of Knowing, but it's eighteen-year-old Tessa and her unique powers that cause folks to raise their eyebrows. When Rev. Renfrow and his son, Sterling, roll into town with their Airstream trailer and special brand of faith, things will never be the same, as a tragic secret is uncovered and the Ivy women learn the true meaning of kinship and hope.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hinton's second book is an even more compelling and enjoyable slice of smalltown life than her bestselling debut novel, Friendship Cake. Tessa, the 18-year-old narrator, belongs to the Ivy clan: a trailer-park-dwelling family full of strong women with unusual gifts for "knowing" things. Tessa's mother, Mama Bertie, can predict deaths in the community; her grandmother foretells the weather; and her twin sister, Liddy, reads palms. Tessa's own cryptic glimpses of the future come in tea leaves and dreams. The novel revolves around her attempts to unravel the mysteries of her visions and her family's secrets. There is Mama Bertie's bitter enmity toward her best friend from youth (an issue no one will discuss), and her suspiciously close relationship with the preacher. There is the strange hostility of Mr. Jenkins, one of the richest men in town. And there is the deeply spiritual Reverend Renfrew, who rolls into town in an old Airstream trailer with his own secrets and ways of "knowing." Hinton guides us through this landscape of absorbing characters with good humor and a gift for mixing the mystical with the everyday. Dialogues take place amid simple activities brought so cinematically to life that the visual images fairly jump out. Hinton even escapes triteness in her description of Tessa's first love, a relationship that pulls everyone's secrets together and out into the open. The prose is fresh, the characters absorbing, and Hinton achieves the resolution of the novel's mysteries through a satisfying blend of love, death, grace and redemption.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Generations of Pinot women have lived their small-town southern lives with each one of them possessing a special gift of knowing. What they know and how they know it are different for each. Liddy reads hands and knows if someone's love will last. Grandma Pinot reads the sky, and Mama Bertie knows in advance when someone is going to die. The gift is taken for granted and used as part of everyday life. Bertie gives her boss, the local funeral director, advance warning to help in scheduling. The gift doesn't bring with it a guarantee of wealth or happiness, or even family harmony. There is a secret that taints the town and Bertie's relationships. The arrival of an old black preacher and his son brings answers and redemption from the past. Her book as light as a whisper and sweet as southern iced tea, the author has a deft touch with dialect and a deep understanding of the psyche of the women she writes about. The strong message of faith and values will appeal to certain readers. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Center Point Large Print (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585471542
• ISBN-13: 978-1585471546
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,471,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonder story by Lynne Hinton, June 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Things I Know Best: A Novel (Hardcover)

I devoured The Things I Know Best in only two days. Lynne Hinton has a gift for taking us into the story and holding us there until the final page. The paper is her canvas and well-chosen words are the medium for guiding us into the settings she creates. She writes simply yet fully. I love her style and her stories. I only wish that there had been a few more chapters to this wonderful novel.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Sweet Ride, July 13, 2001

By 

Paula Hess (Iowa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Things I Know Best: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a short novel but packs a big story. It is the story of the Ivy women who are each blessed or cursed with a gift of knowing. One can see death coming, the other reads the sky and daughter Liddy knows who people will marry just by looking at their hands. But this is really the story of Liddy's twin Tessa who thinks she sees the future in glass. This is a quick ride thru the summer of the twin's 18th year. It is fast paced and you are along for the ride to the very end. Even tho the future has been forseen doesn't mean that it is fact. Sit down, relax with this book and you won't be able to put it down till the end.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Wasn't Disappointed, September 16, 2001

By 

watzizname "watzizname" (Murfreesboro, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Things I Know Best: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is not the sort of novel I usually read, but I bought it because Malachy McCourt recommended it, and I wasn't disappointed. It is, indeed, a beautifully written, sweet, sad coming-of-age story, with a lot of local color. Thank you, Malachy, for recommending this delightful tale.

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