The Summary

Feeling like a member of a family has been Emme Wynn's greatest desire throughout her life. She spent her childhood on the run with her con artist mother, moving from town to town, getting herself into sticky situations, and picking up bad habits that she has worked very hard to break. Emme is hopeful that she will finally be able to establish the roots she has always desired when her estranged grandmother contacts her out of the blue and offers her a job helping to manage her booth at an outdoor market in the small Alabama town of Sweetgrass. However, some habits are difficult to break, and by hiding one important truth, she jeopardizes her newly-found pleasure.

Volunteering, gardening, her career as a color consultant and designer, and pretty much everything else she can do to distract herself from her traumatic background, which has caused her to hold the majority of people at arm's length, are all priorities for Cora Bee Hazelton. Developing deep relationships and then having her heart shattered repeatedly is the last thing she wants. She quickly understands it will be hard to keep her heart protected or her secrets hidden once she realizes she has no choice but to let others into her life as a result of her injury.

Emme and Cora Bee discover some unflinching realities about their pasts and selves, the value of friends, family, and community, and most importantly the fact that real growth begins inside of oneself in the enchanted neighborhood garden in the midst of Hickory Lane.

My Review

I won't deny that the cover is quite alluring, and fortunately, I like the story just as much as I do the cover.

What can be said about the person in this book? They are truly great, and ever since I started reading, I have yearned to join them in their world and share in this lovely story. I couldn't help but love Emme, who has had a particularly terrible life, and Glory, who is so gentle and compassionate. Even Dorothy, whose dementia is making her worse, is a likeable character, and perhaps some of the strange things she says are more significant than her family is aware of!

When I consider magical realism in small-town fiction, I picture something like this. I want to live in a place where there are so many fascinating people that I feel like I've moved in. I'm looking for lies, fantastic individuals, sorrow, misunderstandings, and a sense of belonging. This book satisfies every need.

Each chapter begins with a header that offers a succinct explanation of the language of flowers and offers a few nuggets of knowledge. An added benefit and great touch.

I was very impacted by the story in In the Middle of Hickory Lane, which was endearing, sincere, and inspirational.

If any of you are interested in magical realism books set in a small community, I highly recommend that you start with this one.

My ratings score:

★★★★★ Fantastic! Made me go through a lot of emotions & the entire book is incredibly beautifully done! 

★★★★ Memorable! Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredible and taught us a lot. 

★★★ Good work! Nothing particularly remarkable, but still nice.

★★ Meh... Mediocre with great room for improvement.

★ Extremely Poor.