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
~ Connie May Fowler
Author of Before Women Had Wings, Sugar Cage, and How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
"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 |