Cover of Amaryllis in Blueberry

Amaryllis in Blueberry

Amaryllis in Blueberry explores the complexity of human relationships through the haunting voices of Dick and Seena Slepy and their four daughters in a soulful novel which weaves together the past and the present of a family harmed—and healed—by buried secrets.

Read more

In the stirring tradition of The Secret Life of Bees and The Poisonwood Bible, Amaryllis in Blueberry explores the complexity of human relationships set against an unforgettable backdrop. Told through the haunting voices of Dick and Seena Slepy and their four daughters, Christina Meldrum's soulful novel weaves together the past and the present of a family harmed—and healed—by buried secrets.

"Maybe, unlike hope, truth couldn't be contained in a jar. . . ."

Meet the Slepys: Dick, the stern doctor, the naIve husband, a man devoted to both facts and faith; Seena, the storyteller, the restless wife, a mother of four, a lover of myth. And their children, the Marys: Mary Grace, the devastating beauty; Mary Tessa, the insistent inquisitor; Mary Catherine, the saintly, lost soul; and finally, Amaryllis, Seena's unspoken favorite, born with the mystifying ability to sense the future, touch the past, and distinguish the truth tellers from the most convincing liar of all.

When Dick insists his family move from Michigan to the unfamiliar world of Africa for missionary work, he can't possibly foresee how this new land and its people will entrance and change his daughters—and himself—forever.

Nor can he predict how Africa will spur his wife Seena toward an old but unforgotten obsession. In fact, Seena may be falling into a trance of her own. . . .

Audience
adultyoung adult
Length
medium · 389 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Amaryllis in Blueberry? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Amaryllis in Blueberry. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Unfeeling Shares fiction, Africa
  2. The Bird House Shares fiction, family, adult
  3. The Headhunter's Daughter: A Mystery Shares fiction, Africa, historical fiction
  4. How Fast Can You Run Shares fiction, Africa

“People who read Amaryllis in Blueberry tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Outside Wonderland
  2. Parents Behaving Badly
  3. Salting Roses
  4. The Orphan Sister

“If you want more of the same (women’s fiction about family), start with these.”

  1. Travels in the White Man's Grave
  2. In Search of a Character: two African Journals
  3. Maru
  4. David's Story

“If it was the Africa that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Thirty Girls
  2. My Friend Matt And Hena The Whore
  3. Brazzaville Beach
  4. Gone to the Forest

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Valentines
  2. Circle of Three
  3. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
  4. Ten Good Seconds of Silence