Orange You Glad Biscuit Mix

Set in Central Florida during the first half of the 20th century, the book is about two families forced to confront hardships during harsh economic times, during a World War, and the aftermath of those trials. The story begins with a tragic steamboat explosion on the Mississippi and a trio of musicians playing on it, and the one young man who survives. The first half of the book is about how he uses his music to put his life back together, but in Florida's booming 1920s. He marries the oldest daughter of a hard-scrabble farming family. He and his wife raise five children, but his oldest daughter carries the struggle forward after his untimely death during the Great Depression. She carries on his battle to find authenticity and advantage wherever she can. She is bright, attractive and capable, but burdened by a determined lack of means. She navigates with remarkable aplomb until she meets a flier just returning from the war, but remains haunted by all he has experienced in Europe. Fitting his pieces back together soon proves her greatest challenge, one that carries her to the Great Smokey Mountains and a midnight drive across those peaks hoping to save her husband's life. This novel completes a trilogy of tales Ted Leavengood has written about long drives along Florida's forgotten highways and fishing in its slow, rambling rivers. The stories are about people and places left behind, but there are always lights up ahead, always a way to steer through the darkness.