Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale

A few weeks ago we had a garage sale at our house.  I am not much of a garage sale person. My in-laws, however, love them. So it is always my mother-in-law who gets our things ready and sets up our garage sale.  This weekend, while reading Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge, I chuckled to myself at how different our garage sales were.

Faith Bass Darling is suffering from Alzheimer's -something obvious from early on in the novel.  She has determined that the last day of 1999 will be her last day on earth, and has decided to get rid of her family's antiques by hosting a garage sale.  This garage sale is a huge departure from the person Faith Bass Darling was.  She grew up with money, valuing her possessions more than her own children.  Her daughter, Claudia, has not been home in twenty years after a falling out with her mother over an antique wedding ring. Now items worth thousands of dollars - and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars- are being sold for mere pennies. 

As the story unfolds Faith Bass Darling's past is revealed and the events that led to her life of solitude are explained.  Rutledge's novel takes place in the South and I could almost see the Southern charm of the Darling mansion and the people who inhabit the book's pages.  This novel is a lot of fun, despite the fact that Faith Bass Darling's life is a bit sad and lonely as it nears it's end.