Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Mary McCarthy, Anne Rivers Siddons, and a host of others have portrayed the power and value of female friendships, but no one has done it with more grace, charm, talent, and power than Rebecca Wells does in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.?  - Richmond Times Dispatch

When theatre director Siddalee Walker inadvertently reveals some of the less-savory facts of her Southern childhood to the New York Times, the article brands her mother, Vivi, a ?tap-dancing child abuser.? When Vivi virtually disowns Sidda, Sidda panics and postpones her upcoming wedding. But Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together. The Ya-Yas, an inseparable and indomitable foursome who grew up together in the small town of Thornton, Louisiana, persuade Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of girlhood mementos entitled ?Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

With the scrapbook in hand, Sidda retreats to a cabin on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, intent on discovering the key to the swirling mix of anger and tenderness she feels toward her mother. Through a series of flashbacks from Sidda's current crisis to Vivi's youth and early motherhood, the ?Divine Secrets? will reveal themselves to you through Rebecca Wells's vibrant, irresistible voice - and it is that irresistible voice (literally) that reads the audiobook.

It's an incisive look at the tangled relationship between mother and daughter, with its countless emotional shiftings from dark to light, love to resentment, bonding to breaking free. Wells unveils it as a bond that is as sacred as it is unfathomable.

And, through it all, the Ya-Ya's loyalty and outrageous, untamable spirit come to signify the everlasting endurance and vitality, girl-power of communions forged among women throughout their lives.