Sweet Vidalia

By: Lisa Sandlin

Narrated by: Janet Metzger

This life-affirming novel explores marriage, community, and the power of dignity for a fifty-seven-year-old woman forced to rebuild her life, unexpectedly and alone, in 1960s Texas—perfect for listeners of Elizabeth Strout, Paulette Jiles, and Anne Tyler.

It’s 1964, and Eliza Kratke is mostly content. Married thirty years, she is long settled in Bayard, Texas with two grown children, a nice house, a little dog, and a routine. But her husband has a secret, and Eliza has not been brave enough to demand to know what it is.

So when her husband dies suddenly, the ground doesn’t just shift under Eliza’s feet—it falls away entirely, revealing that she has known nothing true about her life. How should she come to terms with all that has been a lie?

What emerges from this wreckage is a profoundly compelling portrait of a wonderfully nuanced woman, worn down like a gemstone to a core of durability and self-reliance as she fights for her own path forward. By taking business classes and moving into a hotel filled with aspiring young people, The Sweet Vidalia, Eliza gathers new friends and new possibilities. But with each of these, she finds that it isn't so simple to leave the past behind.

Sweet Vidalia not only explores what it means to be honest with ourselves and with one another, but asks: what will we do with the truth when we find it?

©2024 Lisa Sandlin (P)2024 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

“With her keen understanding of the human heart and a gift for laying it bare on the page, Lisa Sandlin has given us a beautiful story of what it takes to re-build a ruined life from the ground up. Readers will grieve with Eliza Kratke at the shocking upheaval in her marriage. They’ll rejoice at her spirit. When they finish the book, they’ll miss her. I certainly did.”—Elizabeth Crook, author of The Madstone

“Poignant and uplifting, Sweet Vidalia is a beautifully written tribute to the courage of a woman wounded by life who, through steadfast determination, reclaims her self-esteem, and the joy of living.”—Kathleen Kent, bestselling author of Black Wolf and The Heretic’s Daughter

“Sweet Vidalia the odyssey of a woman forced to rebuild her entire world. . . . Eliza's warmhearted matter-of-factness is her salvation, and her decision to care less about trust and more about humane survival and keeping her spirit uncorroded is doubly refreshing. Sandlin has written a page-turner of an unapologetically female adventure.”—Katherine Vaz, author of Above the Salt