Lily of the Valley: A Novel - Softcover

Ann Hood author of Ruby It is a gift to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary, to reveal the lives we see unfolding every day, and add a charm and warmth to them that those of us who move around them sometimes forget to notice. But this is what Suzanne Strempek Shea does for her readers.

Chicago Tribune An intriguing portrait...Lily is the latest of Shea's quirky but hugely likable heroines...True to form, Shea makes [her characters] memorable.

Lily Wilk always knew she was destined to be an artist -- ever since she pulled a drawing kit from a grab bag on her tenth birthday. Now Lily's work is always in demand around her small Massachusetts town, where she makes her living painting fire hydrants, lettering diplomas, and applying "Gulls" and "Buoys" to restaurant bathroom doors. But when supermarket heiress Mary Ziemba commissions her to paint a family portrait, Lily senses her lifelong dream of creating a memorable masterpiece is finally within her grasp. What she discovers, however, is that dreams often take their own unexpected twists...and with each small and gentle brush stroke she applies to Mary Ziemba's painting, Lily learns more than she ever imagined about the meaning of friendship, family, and love. With a gift for creating fiction that is "rich with an unusual sweetness"(USA Today)and filled with wry humor, bestselling author Suzanne Strempek Shea delivers a poignant and unforgettable work of art in Lily of the Valley.