A novel about three generations of Romani (“Gypsy”) women that will steep you in their love and devotion to one another. Watch the Eve's Garden book trailer, below:
"I love the scope of this novel. I love its lushness and lyricism. . . . time and again the writing lifts off the page: transcendent and true and completely compelling . . ."
~ Connie May Fowler Author of Before Women Had Wings, Sugar Cage, and How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
"From the first pages of her debut novel, Glenda Bailey-Mershon invites us into the life of Eve Gates, a young woman in 1970s North Georgia, as she contemplates both a man she loves and the power of her own past. Of Romani descent, a 'Gypsy' heritage she has only overheard via the conversations of the women in her family, Eve has grown up listening for clues about who she is. Her mother has told her that blood from the womb makes women powerful, but her best friend falls victim to a community's small-minded views about sexuality. Eve longs to write, to travel, but must first understand a history she knows only in bits and pieces. Stories, as Bailey-Mershon tells us, can pour out of our hearts like water. With Eve's Garden, Glenda Bailey-Mershon invites us into a world where 'words lodged tight against the breastbone' free themselves, as secrets, personal and cultural, are finally reclaimed. "
~ Karen McElmurray, Author of Surrendered Child; The Motel of the Stars; Wanting Radiance; Voices: Essays
~ Connie May Fowler Author of Before Women Had Wings, Sugar Cage, and How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
"From the first pages of her debut novel, Glenda Bailey-Mershon invites us into the life of Eve Gates, a young woman in 1970s North Georgia, as she contemplates both a man she loves and the power of her own past. Of Romani descent, a 'Gypsy' heritage she has only overheard via the conversations of the women in her family, Eve has grown up listening for clues about who she is. Her mother has told her that blood from the womb makes women powerful, but her best friend falls victim to a community's small-minded views about sexuality. Eve longs to write, to travel, but must first understand a history she knows only in bits and pieces. Stories, as Bailey-Mershon tells us, can pour out of our hearts like water. With Eve's Garden, Glenda Bailey-Mershon invites us into a world where 'words lodged tight against the breastbone' free themselves, as secrets, personal and cultural, are finally reclaimed. "
~ Karen McElmurray, Author of Surrendered Child; The Motel of the Stars; Wanting Radiance; Voices: Essays
Glenda Bailey-Mershon at home
Glenda speaks frequently on writing, creativity, and women's issues.
"I love this book for so many reasons, but I think the main one is that it sits firmly within the Romani storytelling tradition. "
Qristina Zavackova Cummings www. golden-zephyr.com/reading-recommendations/ "Bailey-Mershon’s story is a complex tale, thick with layers built from a century’s worth of cultural and societal development. But the important stuff is wrapped up in delicious stories of love, poverty, grief, and loyalty. It’s the literary equivalent of eating a brownie inexplicably loaded with shredded vegetables – an absorbing tale that’s entertaining and enlightening, and a history lesson to boot."
Tricia Booker www.triciabooker.com |
"By turns moving and biting, lyrical and dramatic, Eve's Garden is filled with private secrets and lush images of the natural world. In this fine novel, Glenda Bailey-Mershon reveals she has the soul of a poet and the heart of a story-teller."
~ Diana Abu-Jaber Author of Arabian Jazz and The Language of Baklava "Debut novelist Glenda Bailey-Mershon writes prose so evocative that it would pass for poetry, and her eye for color, light and humanity illuminates a rare and neglected corner of our shared American history." ~ Janis Owens Author of American Ghost “In this novel, fresh and rich as the family’s pomegranates, three generations of women pass on Romani ("Gypsy") blood, secrets, stories and love.” ~ Barbara Esstman Author of The Other Anna, Night Ride Home and Sure Thing "This virtuoso novel, like a fine symphony, succeeds on many levels, sweeping the reader away. The hard and soft edges of small-town life, especially for women coming of age in the rural South before the feminist movement, sings with details that are familiar to those of us who grew up in that era." ~ Christine Swanberg Author of The Alleluia Tree, "Literary Hook," The Rockford Times, June 18-24, 2014 edition |