Hold Up the Sky - eBook

Patricia Sprinkle grew up in North Carolina and northern Florida, graduated from Vassar College, and spent a winter writing in the Scottish Highlands before settling in Atlanta. Although as an adult she has also lived in Chicago and Miami, her mysteries and novels reflect her love for and the strength of her Southern roots. Sprinkle is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Contact her at patriciasprinkle@hotmail.com.

In Hold Up the Sky, Patricia Sprinkle weaves a beautiful tale about four women who share a difficult summer together under a hot Georgia sun. They each have heavy burdens to bear: Mamie is dying of congestive heart failure, Margaret's husband has recently divorced her, Emerita has emigrated from Mexico in search of financial support for her family, and Billie's absent husband has stopped sending the money she desperately needs to provide for her handicapped daughter, Chellie. In spite of, or rather because of, their circumstances, these women learn to share their trials with one another and to see that the "light and dark threads of God's tapestry" truly do work together for the good of those who love him.

Very well-written, this incredible story contains both heart-wrenching tragedies and jubilant triumphs. Some objectionable content includes a few swear words and one extramarital relationship. Included in the book is an interview with Sprinkle and discussion questions for small group conversation. – Rachel E. Nolan, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

In her latest, Sprinkle (Carley’s Song) abandons mystery for pure melodrama, following two down-on-their-luck sisters reconverging on their father’s farm in Solace, Ga. When the bottom falls out of Maggie Baxter’s safe upper-middle-class family life, she takes her sons and moves back to daddy’s farm, where her sister, Billie, and Billie’s disabled daughter, live hand-to-mouth following the disappearance of Billie’s husband. The two sisters spend sweltering summer days in their father’s kitchen with elderly friend Mamie Fountain, who is dying of congestive heart failure, and Mexican immigrant Emerita Gomez, who has lost her family. The only respite from these characters’ gloom-and-doom circumstances is the reappearance of Billie’s good-hearted high school heartthrob. Sprinkle has a gift for developing a full, rich world, but her narrative spends far too long spinning its wheels, considering and reconsidering each woman’s miseries without moving beyond them. (Mar.)Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

"A heartfelt story of the women who catch us when we fall-the sisters and friends who hold up the sky and show us who we were meant to be."
-Lisa Wingate, author of The Summer Kitchen

"Patricia Sprinkle takes us deep into the thoughts and feelings of four women who realize the only way to true strength is to share their faith, their hearts and each other's lives. A beautiful and thoroughly southern story of the enduring bond of women's friendships through the seasons of the year and the seasons of life. Sprinkle knows this world and we are lucky that in her lyrical language she shares it with us!"
-Patti Callahan Henry, national bestselling author of Driftwood Summer