The Sweet By and By

Title: THE SWEET BY AND BY
Author: Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
January 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59554-489-6
Genre: contemporary woman’s fiction

Jade Fritzgerald is getting married, to a lawyer, a man who as won her heart. She owns The Blue Umbrella, a resale shop for vintage items. And Jade’s life is mostly happy as long as she leaves her mother, a hippie-flower-child who never grew up, and God, out of the equation.

Beryl Hill had dreams. She believed that she and Jade would be the best of friends the day that she gave birth to her daughter. But her husband springs on her the unwelcome news that he’s joined a major law firm so they could have their piece of the American Dream. A small plot of land, their own house, and enough money to meet the bills. Beryl is upset and believes her husband has sold out to “The Man.”

Now Beryl holds Jade’s scarlet wedding invitation in her hands. An invitation that Jade didn’t even want to send to Beryl. An invitation that Beryl isn’t sure she wants to respond to. But either way, for both women, this invitation has opened up a look back into the past while they are moving forward.

THE SWEET BY AND BY is a well-written story full of the reality of life. Searching for real love and endless dreams. Unpleasantness marked by hopes for the future. The get-down-and-dirty grit that too many of us are familiar with. Add in a dysfunctional family, and you've got THE SWEET BY AND BY.

The characters, the setting, the circumstances, the plot were all believable, and the story is full of redemption, reconciliation, and grace. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $19.99 hardcover. 310 pages.


A redemptive story from multi-platinum recording artist Sara Evans.

Jade Fitzgerald left the pain of her past in the dust when she headed out for college a decade ago. Now she's thriving in her career and glowing in the light of Max Benson's love.

But then Jade's hippie mother, Beryl Hill, arrives in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee, for Jade's wedding along with Willow, her wild younger sister. Their arrival forces Jade to throw open the dark closets of her past--the insecurity of living with a restless, wandering mother, the silence of her absent father, and the heart-ripping pain of first-love's rejection.

Turns out Beryl has a secret of her own. She needs reconciliation with her oldest daughter before illness takes her life. In the final days leading to the wedding, Jade meets the One who shows her that the past has no hold on her future. With a little grace, they'll meet in the middle, maybe even before that sweet by and by.