Livin' in High Cotton

By Sandra Poole and Jennifer Youngblood

Book Overview

An historical romance novel by best selling authors Jennifer Youngblood and Sandra Poole

A man she couldn't forget ... a second chance to prove that love never fails ...

Cultured, graceful, feisty Shelby Collins is the epitome of a southern lady. She tries to prove her competence by looking after her siblings while her mother is away caring for an ailing relative. Shelby's secure world is turned upside down when her father, in a drunken rage, tries to rape her. Fearing others will learn of his treachery, he kidnaps her, takes her to a reform school, and abandons her.

In utter despair, Shelby is sure that her life is over-but sometimes blessings come in the most unexpected ways.

When a chance meeting brings her face to face with the ruggedly handsome, Harlan Rhodes, Shelby is unprepared for the feelings that stir within her. Hearts collide, and a love in bloom becomes a lasting love that will span time and space.

Through a series of unfortunate events, Shelby and Harlan are separated, forcing them to lead separate lives of loneliness and frustration.Years later, when their lives converge, old feelings rekindle, and they must decide if they will risk all to finally be together.

Inspired by a true story, this historical novel is set against the rich tapestry of the South during the late 1920's and early 1930's. It's a story of love, betrayal, and the indomitable human spirit in the face of adversity. It's about a young girl, growing up, who realizes that life is full of second chances, and that it's never too late to learn how to live.

"A compelling story of family loyalty, love, loss, and strength, as warm and fertile as the rich red clay of a Georgia field. The inspiring, hardscrabble lives of Depression-era southerners make for a vivid story of love and forgiveness." --Deborah Smith, New York Times bestselling author of A Place to Call Home

"Strongly recommended and superbly crafted reading." --Midwest Book Review

"With a combination of heartbreak, romance, and triumph, Livin' in High Cotton is a page-turning pleasure." --LDS Living Magazine

"You've got to read this book. I loved it. You won't be able to put it down. It evoked so many emotions, and it was easy reading. I felt like I was actually there. It's one of those books you want to pick up and read a second time." --Rilly Winkle, Alabama TV and radio personality

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B08QS546BZ
• ISBN13: 9798582123521
• Release Date: December 2020
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Inspired by the experiences of Sandra's grandmother

Livin' In High Cotton is the collaboration of Sandra Poole and her daughter Jennifer Leigh Youngblood. The story is set in the Depression-era south and inspired by the real-life experiences of Sandra's grandmother. Times were hard in western Georgia and eastern Alabama when the cotton industry was failing and families had to bind tightly together in order to survive those bleak and uncertain years. Shelby Collins was mature for a fifteen-year-old girl. When Shelby's mother had to go off to Alabama to tend Shelby's ailing grandmother, the girl had to care for her younger brother and sister, while seeing to the needs of her father. One night her father came home drunk and tried to attack her. When a frightened Shelby flees the home, her father tracks her down and places her in a reform school in distant Birmingham. Emotionally scarred by her abuse, Shelby is sill able to make a new life for herself and learns that blessings can come in the most unexpected ways. Strongly recommended and superbly crafted reading, Livin' In High Cotton successfully and engagingly tackles such difficult themes as whether or not trust can be regained after betrayal, how can being kind-hearted succeed in a world populate by evil people, and is there a power higher than ourselves that can come into our hearts to foster forgiveness and release us from the emotional bondage of a blighted past?

Enjoyable!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Livin' in High Cotton". It includes all the elements for great fiction - romance, suspense and action. I highly recommend it!

Real

This book is about the real south and about what happened to real people back in a time that was not only hard for people to survive but hard for the land to produce sizeable crops. Livin in High Cottons' Shelby is an example of how many women worked and lived in a time almost forgotten. I thank the authors for reminding me what a lot of women went through in the earlier years ao that we could have what we have today.