Truelove and Homegrown Tomatoes [Hardcover]

Julie Cannon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hill Street Press/Classics Book | Publication Date: May 1, 2001

This is a down-home story celebrating the enormous healing power of the Southern garden. Imogene Lavender, her daughter, Jeanette, and her niece, Lou wage their individual battles with grief and find the answer to many of life's questions deep in the red-clay dirt of Euharlee, Georgia. After forty-eight years of marriage, Imo's life is shattered when Silas, her beloved husband dies. She deals with her grief by throwing herself into nurturing both her vegetable garden and her girls. Imo's concern for Jeanette and Lou supercedes any desires for self-fulfilment, and she determines to go on with the 'fever of this life on earth' solely to guide Jeanette and Lou through the perils of adolescence and too many visits to the Dairy Queen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Augusta Trobaugh author of Sophie and the Rising Sun Tender, funny, witty -- a surprising, gentle jolt to the heart. -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Julie Cannon is an avid tomato gardener. She lives in Bishop, Georgia, with her husband and three children. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Hill Street Press (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892514877
• ISBN-13: 978-1892514875
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,741,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As warm & sweet as a vine ripened tomato-a beautiful story., March 20, 2002

By 

David J. Gannon (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Truelove and Homegrown Tomatoes (Hardcover)

Truelove and Homegrown Tomatoes is the wonderful, luscious, bittersweet story of how Imogene Lavender and her two daughters, Loutishie and Jeannete-one actually her niece and the other adopted-cope with life after Imogene's husband, Silas, passes on.

This is a story told with compassion and affection from tow distinctly different points of view-that of Imogene, through the regular text, and that of Loutishie, told through her journal. It chronicles their grieving for their father and husband and the inevitably difficult process of picking up the pieces and moving on. The book elegantly evokes the aspects of Southern tradition, mores and custom that both facilitate and aggravate that process.

Cannon's particularly gifted at characterization. Even minor characters are reverently constructed and rendered so that by the end of the book you feel as if you yourself are in fact a resident of Euharlee, Georgia and privy to all the goings on, habits and secrets and traditions that are common fodder in any such small rural enclave.

The construction of the story is extremely effective, with a short quote from each chapter which acts as an introduction, followed by Imogene's story, followed by Lou's journal.

This is the sort of story that grabs you by the heartstrings and won't let go, even after the book is over. It's a truly wonderful debut.

I can only hope-and pray-- that this is but the first in a long line of novels by Julie Cannon.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The tomato patch as a metaphor for life, August 20, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Truelove & Homegrown Tomatoes : A Novel (Paperback)

Imogene, recently widowed, embarks on a new hair style and a series of new and outrageously unsuitable men, but she's pulled back to home base by three things: her rebellious teenage daughter, her calmer and younger niece, and her garden. Healing of a broken heart comes with time, just as a well-tended garden will once again yield a bumper crop of tomatoes, and just when they are needed most.
Sweet.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truely Southern!, May 5, 2002

By 

Anne B. Jones (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Truelove and Homegrown Tomatoes (Hardcover)

What a wonderful view of the southern world. Told with insight and compassion, this a a story book clubs would enjoy.