Ya-Yas in Bloom

New York Times–Bestseller: “Bursting with details of the sisterhood’s origins, the sequel also introduces the next generation . . . Uplifting [and] uproarious.” —Booklist Rebecca Wells’s wonderful third book in her Ya-Ya trilogy, which includes Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas’ friendship in the 1930s, following the four Louisiana ladies through sixty years of marriage, child-raising, and hair-raising family secrets. When four-year-old Teensy Whitman prisses one time too many and stuffs a big old pecan up her nose, she sets off the chain of events that lead Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie to become true sister-friends. Narrated by the alternating voices of Vivi, the girls of the next generation known as the Petite Ya-Yas, and other denizens of their bayou town, Ya-Yas in Bloom shows us the Ya-Yas in love and at war with convention, through crises of faith and hilarious lapses of parenting skills, brushes with alcoholism and glimpses of the dark reality of racial bigotry. But in the Ya-Yas’ inimitable way, these four remarkable women also teach their children about the Mysteries: the wonder of snow in the deep South, the possibility that humans are made of stars, and the belief that miracles do happen. And they need a miracle when old grudges and wounded psyches lead to a heartbreaking crime . . . and the dynamic web of sisterhood is the only safety net strong enough to hold families together and endure. “Had me laughing out loud . . . Brims with the Ya-Yas’ hallmark irreverence.” —Rocky Mountain News “A must-read.” —Detroit Free Press