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Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood

A Novel

by Rebecca Wells

ISBN: 0060173289
ISBN-13: 9780060173289
Format: Hardcover

Summary

SiddaLee Walker, at 39, is a creative theatrical director. She prides herself on having escaped her Louisiana hometown and her mother, Vivi Abbot Walker, a local beauty and performer who, in a recent "New York Times" article, is called a "tap-dancing child abuser." A fight over this article erupts between Sidda and Vivi, just when Sidda needs her mother's help with a play she's writing about women's friendships. Eventually, Vivi sends her daughter letters, photos, journals, and souvenirs form the Ya-Ya sisterhood. This group of girlfriends was wild and clever, and stuck in a small town where they were expected to raise babies, not Cain.

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Media Reviews

"This is the sweet and sad and goofy monkey-dance of life, as performed by a bevy of unforgettable Southern belles in a verdant garden of moonlit prose. Poignantly coo-coo the Ya-Yas (and petite Ya-Yas) will prance priss, ponder and party their way into your sincere affection." -- Tom Robbins

"What an exciting new voice...just wonderful." -- Pat Conroy

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Harpercollins
Published date: 1996
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 6.5 x 9.75 inches
Weight: 1.6 pounds
Pages: 356

Publisher's Notes

Now, four years after her award-winning, underground bestseller, Little Altars Everywhere, praised by Pat Conroy as "a splendid first novel," Rebecca Wells returns with a masterfully written novel that brims with insight, humor and compassion. When Vivi and Siddalee Walker, an unforgettable mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a "tap-dancing child abuser," the fallout is felt from Louisiana to New York to Seattle. Siddalee, a successful theater director with a huge hit on her hands, panics and postpones her upcoming wedding to her lover and friend, Connor McGill. Vivis intrepid gang of lifelong girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together. In 1932, Vivi and the Ya-Yas were disqualified from a Shirley Temple Look-Alike Contest for unladylike behavior. Sixty years later, theyre "bucking seventy" and still making waves. They persuade Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of girlhood mementos titled "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." With the scrapbook in hand, Sidda retreats to a cabin on Washington States Olympic Peninsula, tormented by fear and uncertainty about the future, and intent on discovering the key to the tangle of anger and tenderness she feels toward her mother. But Vivis album reveals more questions than answers and leads Sidda to encounter the legacy of imperfect love and the unknowable mystery of life. With passion and a rare gift for language, Rebecca Wells moves from present to past, unraveling Vivi's life, her enduring friendships with the Ya-Yas and the reverberations of Siddalee. The collective power of the Ya-Yas, each of them totally individual and authentic, permeates this story of a tribe of Louisiana wild women who are impossible to tame. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood calls to mind The Joy Luck Club in its exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters; in its unearthing of family secrets, it evokes The Prince of Tides. Ultimately, in its aching longing, in its deep humor, in its heartbreaking fun and in its joy and forgiveness, Rebecca Wells has created a big, original, incandescent novel whose Louisiana landscape and indelible characters radiate with grace, wit and love.

Other Editions

Hardcover - Harpercollins (1996) - from $1.00
Paperback - Harpercollins (1997) - from $1.00

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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel

Rebecca Wells

[ISBN: 0060173289]

HarperCollins. Used - Acceptable. Published: 1996. Hardcover.1st ed. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Acceptable condition reading copy showing definate wear. All pages plus cover present. Cover has substantial wear on edges. Spine slightly askew. Cover/spine has minor creases and/or small tears. Some rubbing on cover. Substantial aging/yellowing of text pages. (more information)

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