Author/Uploaded by Diane Marie Brown
Advance Praise for Black Candle Women “Richly imagined and elegantly told, with plenty of satisfying secrets, heartaches, and twists. Black Candle Women is a promising debut.” —Sadeqa Johnson, internationally bestselling author of Yellow Wife and The House of Eve “A big-hearted debut, with complex, flawed, and compelling characters I was rooting for eve...
Advance Praise for Black Candle Women “Richly imagined and elegantly told, with plenty of satisfying secrets, heartaches, and twists. Black Candle Women is a promising debut.” —Sadeqa Johnson, internationally bestselling author of Yellow Wife and The House of Eve “A big-hearted debut, with complex, flawed, and compelling characters I was rooting for every step of the way.” —E.M. Tran, author of Daughters of the New Year “Written with warmth and an eye for detail, Black Candle Women explores the bonds of family and the magical power of belief to transform our lives.” —Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman, authors of The Thread Collectors “A compassionate novel about motherhood, sisterhood, independence, and the reflection and forgiveness required to break generational curses.” —De’Shawn Charles Winslow, winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and author of Decent People “A bold and tender story about three generations of women each attempting to find their way amidst the gifts and curses they’ve inherited.” —Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park “Brown deftly portrays an insular family of women in all of its complicated glory... The spiritual angle gives this powerful family drama a magical twist that will delight readers.” —Booklist (starred review) DIANE MARIE BROWN is a professor at Orange Coast College and a public health professional for the Long Beach Health Department. She has a BA and MPH from UCLA and a degree in fiction from USC’s Master of Professional Writing Program. She grew up in Stockton and now lives in Long Beach, California, with her husband, their four daughters, and their dog, Brownie. Black Candle Women is her debut novel. DianeMarieBrown.com Black Candle Women A NOVEL Diane Marie Brown To my dad, who read me stories. To my mom, who encouraged me to make up my own. Contents Prologue Part I Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 October Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 November Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Part II Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 February Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Epilogue Acknowledgments Author’s Note Black Candle Women Playlist Reading Group Guide PROLOGUE Augusta The flight attendant told Augusta Montrose that she would have to remove her purse from her lap and put it on the floor before the plane took off. She realized the man wasn’t joking when he stood in the aisle waiting, moving on only when her granddaughter grabbed the bag and shoved it under the seat in front of her—no place for a purse. She’d wanted to explain that it was her first time on a plane, that she was petrified. Not about the flight itself but the eventual arrival at their destination. When she’d left New Orleans all those decades ago, she’d vowed never to return. She should have known she’d be called back one day, that the city would never let her rest, even thousands of miles away. She’d learned early on about a certain unfairness in life. Some folks struggled disproportionately, carrying things that others couldn’t even lift. The Montrose women had taken on an overbalance of grief, but the way Augusta saw it, they’d been given what they were owed. And they were strong enough to endure it. The women in her family lived solitary lives, generations of them under one roof, adapting to their isolated ways, doing fine, they all believed. They were a private kind of people, had to keep others out to keep the secrets in. But recent events had changed them, shaking up the house, rattling the women within. PART I August 1 Victoria In her mellower days, Victoria Montrose sometimes ate two shrimp po’boys just as a snack. Good ones were hard to find near home, but lately, when she got her hands on one, it took only three bites before her stomach convulsed in protest. Hot links, the same. Crawfish étouffée, the same. In cases where she had to pause a therapy session to dash to the restroom, she blamed irritable bowel syndrome. Sometimes diverticulitis. Pain was often how her body spoke to her. A cramp or an abrupt pang forewarned of troubles to come. But in most cases, an upset stomach simply meant that she’d overindulged. Her body wasn’t as forgiving as it once was. Yet today, she’d ordered one of everything greasy and fried at the most authentic New Orleans restaurant in Long Beach. Her daughter, Nickie, had been born seventeen years ago, and an overdone meal was required. Victoria had kept careful track of the years, but the number still stunned her when the woman at the bakery asked how many candles she wanted. “I’m sorry, seventeen? Or seven?” The woman’s brow lifted as she eyed the half-sheet cake decorated with a miniature Black Barbie figurine. She had ordered it without thinking—it seemed Nickie had been seven just days go—but luckily her daughter was not hard to please. It took Victoria four trips to bring the cake and all the food