Description
“Raw, dark, and powerful . . . Southern Gothic at its best. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake puts one in mind of Erskine Caldwell and Flannery O’Connor.”—Fannie Flagg Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. In the midst of it all, Samuel and Willadee’s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But just as the reunion is getting under way, tragedy strikes, jolting the family to their core and setting the stage for a summer of crisis and profound change. With the clear-eyed wisdom that illuminates the most tragic—and triumphant—aspects of human nature, Jenny Wingfield has created an enduring work of fiction. “Jenny Wingfield has given us a spectacular novel [that] will make you laugh out loud one minute, hold your breath the next, and weep when you least expect it.”—Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Folly Beach “[This novel] touches on many genres—family life, Christian fiction, coming-of-age, and suspense. . . . Readers will love it.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Wingfield hooks the reader with her opening sentence. . . . The reader is thoroughly caught up in the family saga.”—Abilene Reporter-News “A lovely debut . . . a bittersweet, inspirational tale.”—The Dallas Morning News Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.
About the Author
Jenny Wingfield grew up “pretty much all over Louisiana”. The daughter of a Methodist minister, she learned early on that being a preacher’s kid could mean moving a lot.After high school, she attended Southern State College (now SAU), in Magnolia, Arkansas, earning her B.A. in English. Later on, she taught English and Language Arts in the Hope, Arkansas and Ashdown Arkansas public schools.Wingfield broke into freelancing by writing celebrity articles for Scene Magazine, Music City News, and The Saturday Evening Post. Several years later, she shifted lanes, tackling screenwriting. Her film credits include The Man In The Moon (Reese Witherspoon’s debut movie), The Outsider (starring Naomi Watts), and Hallmark Hall of Fame’s A Dog Named Christmas (winner of the 2010 Genesis Award), plus a number of Disney animation projects.Her first novel, The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, was released by Random House on July 12, 2011. The book has also sold in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Israel, Norway, Spain and Russia.Wingfield’s other passions are watercolor painting, animal rescue and organic gardening. She lives on a farm, surrounded by rescued dogs, cats and horses, plus a few “bought” dairy goats.
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