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On the last day of the millennium, sassy Faith Bass Darling, the richest old lady in Bass, Texas, decides to have a garage sale. With help from a couple of neighborhood boys, Faith lugs her priceless Louis XV elephant clock, countless Tiffany lamps, and everything else in her nineteenth-century mansion out onto her long, sloping lawn.
Why is a recluse of twenty years suddenly selling off her dearest posessions? Because God told her to.
As the townspeople grab up five generations of heirlooms, everyone drawn to the sale—including Faith's long-lost daughter—finds that the antiques not only hold family secrets but also inspire some of life's most important questions: Do our possessions possess us? What are we without our memories? Is there life after death or second chances here on earth? And is Faith really selling that Tiffany lamp for $1?
READERS GUIDE INCLUDED
Anonymous
Posted May 14, 2012
This book was fantastic, one of the best I've read in many years. Each and every character resonated and of course Faith Bass Darling will be permanently fixed in my mind as one of the best characters ever. Absorbing and brilliantly written, I predict this book will be a classic. I loved it.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 14, 2012
Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale is a charming novel that you will want to read again and again. It is beautifully written, with wonderful characters. I would highly recommend it!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.There’s an old saying money can’t buy happiness and that’s very true for Faith Bass Darling, she lost her son in a terrible accident, her husband’s death followed soon after and her daughter ran away in her teens, yes this was years ago but Faith seems to be reliving it like an old movie loop. Now lately her days aren’t as clear as they once were but when she’s woken up not once but three times by a God she hasn’t spoken to in years, she takes notice. Does he give her an epiphany, or give her prophecies, oh no he tells her to clear out her stately mansion in Bass Texas and have a garage sale to end all garage sales and on this the most momentous of days, December 31, 1999.
So on the dawn of a new century lives will change in the small once prosperous now mostly forgotten town of Bass Texas and the ripple effect will spread until no one is spared the backlash, especially Faith, Bobbie Ann Blankenship, Claudia Darling, Father George Fallow and John Jasper Johnson. These lives will be changed forever, but will the sale change them for the good or for the worse.
I love reading debut novels, it always feels like birth when a new voice in the writing community comes on the scene and it was no different with this unexpected gem of a novel. Now by the title you might think that Ms. Rutledge has a comedy, well you’d be wrong just like I was. Instead inside this book I found the epic struggles of her characters and finally absolution and resolution, there were haunted and troubled people who could be anyone I know and I loved how the author came to her conclusions and found solace for her troubled crew. She used dialogue that I could easily read and understand and her narrative was animated enough that I could easily put myself in the scenes she created. This is a read that would appeal to a wide audience by both sexes and many ages. Now if you’re looking for a novel that gives you a concrete conclusion this isn’t for you, but if like me you like to have that almost absolute ending yet with degrees of variations left to your own imagination, then this is definitely your next must read.
Ms. Rutledge this was exactly the kind of novel that goes on my keeper shelf to be brought out to read again and again and to share with only those who can be trusted with a treasured keepsake. Thank you and I look forward to what you come up with next.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 17, 2012
I loved the down home story and the dysfunctional family in this story. Funny, sad, and sometime painfully true.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 29, 2012
I was completely unprepared for this book to be so GOOD! It's rare to find a debut novel that can make you laugh and cry AND think. Especially one with a setting at a garage sale, for crying out loud! Even the antiques are like characters that help slowly unfold the plot. I just loved it. So original. So much fun. And yet so smart with so much good stuff to takeaway. If you think it's fluff, or the stereotypical quirky Southern novel, you're in for a surprise. For me, it was a great one!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.BBR47
Posted May 28, 2012
Lynda Rutledge’s book is a pure joy to read. Well written, with a unique approach to unlocking the historical secrets of a family, it kept me reading despite my intentions to only read fifty pages a day. There was enough intrigue to keep me going, but not so much that I was overwhelmed by doom and gloom. At the same time, as the mysteries unfolded, there were charming tales of antiques that were being sold off in a yard sale to dozens of families who had no idea of their true value. The ending is clever and unexpected. It leaves you with a nice warm feeling for both Lynda and the characters she created.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.“Doesn't the soul have a memory?...If not, what’s all this living for?” This is the key question Faith Bass Darling asks Father George Fallow, the local Episcopalian priest. For Faith has late stage Alzheimer’s disease and knows her mind is shutting on and off so regularly that she can’t discriminate between real conversations with old friends and neighbors and the “ghosts” she keeps seeing and conversing with. Faith was once a woman truly blessed or at least so she thought when she was younger. But now one terrible tragedy, a marriage of convenience for her late husband, and a daughter who ran away has taught her differently. She’s dropped her Baptist church-going; indeed in the recent past years she has lived the life of a recluse. That’s all changed now because God has spoken to her. She’s got the rest of one day to get it all right.
Everyone has tortured memories which are painful in this novel and yet Lynda Rutledge mixes humor, puzzles and a type of mystery plot in which we learn the separate but oh so connected story of each character. These include Father Fallow who has been a priest so long that he presides over services in a rote fashion that has absolutely no meaning for him; yet Faith is the one person whose honesty and pain have touched him deeply to search more for the next step in his journey. Then there’s Sheriff John Jaspar who used to be best friends with Faith’s son Michael; he’s an African-American whose rage at racism once, he believes, caused the terrible tragedy in Faith’s life. Yet she continues to be kind to him.
Faith’s daughter, Claudia, has been running for years but now she’s returned to find her mother selling “everything” in the house on the front lawn, specifically charging from a quarter to a dollar for antique furniture, Tiffany lamps, etc. Claudia wants one thing which she believes will solve her problems but she’s going to get more than she bargained for and learn a great deal about her “real” problems in the process. On and on it goes.
A final group of scenes are so unexpected one doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale is a wonderful, engaging novel about what really matters with memories and relationships, about moving past ideals and dealing with reality, about forgiveness, expectations, disappointments, and so, so much more! Superb fiction which should be a bestseller and would make a grand movie!!!!
FAITH BASS DARLING'S LAST GARAGE SALE by Lynda Rutledge is an interesting inspirational Women's fiction set in Bass,Texas. Follow Faith Bass Darling on an adventure of second chances,redemption,family secrets,faith,a lifetime of memories. Possessions does not make the person or their life as Faith learns. A charming,enduring story of triumph and heartbreak. What a charming debut for this author. If you enjoy small town life,a bit of laughter,heartbreak,and a lot of love this is the story for you. With engaging,charming,and eccentric characters you will adore and love "Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale" long after the last page. Received for an honest review from the publisher.
RATING: 4
HEAT RATING: SWEET
REVIEWED BY: AprilR, My Book Addiction and More/My Book Addiction Reviews
Anonymous
Posted July 23, 2012
would not recommend, the book started out really well but then it became boring, I started to skip and finally just gave up. I love southern fiction but not this one.
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Posted June 15, 2012
December 31, 1999. Y2K madness. Tiffany lamps. Elephant clocks. Rolltop desks. A ring. Faith and faith. Family secrets. Forgotten friends. Memories. Possessions. Welcome to the eponymous Bass, TX, and the spontaneous yard sale rolling out on the lawn of the stately Queen Anne mansion owned by Faith Bass Darling who, in her 69th year, decides that she does not want to go before she's gone or die before she's dead.
This book reminded me why I love to read.
Anonymous
Posted June 12, 2012
The title was enticing but the story was long and fairly boring.
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Valca85
Posted May 12, 2012
There are many things going for this book. One, the plot sounds really interesting and wholly unique. Two, the cover is fantastic. Three, it’s a debut and that’s always exciting. For me, though, it held a lot of unfulfilled promise.
The main issue that I found with it is that it is rather dull. Slow-paced and convoluted, the narrative is not nearly interesting enough to keep the reader fully focused on the page. Many times I found myself skimming, which is horrible both for the reader and for the writer. No one wants her words ignored. None of the characters are likeable in a manner that will keep you looking to see what happens next, and there seemed to be a lot of “filler” scenes that didn’t do much for the story or for character advancement.
There were a few moments which were well written, with wit and managing to avoid the pathos that permeate the rest of the book. I’m not saying it’s an easy topic to write about. It’s very tough to avoid melodrama when dealing with Alzheimer’s as a plot point, but it can be done. Just, for me, not like this.
I can’t really recommend this, although I’m sure there are many people out there who’ll say the complete opposite. It’s just wasn’t as deep and lovely as I thought it’d be.
0 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 21, 2013
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Anonymous
Posted July 21, 2012
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Overview
On the last day of the millennium, sassy Faith Bass Darling, the richest old lady in Bass, Texas, decides to have a garage sale. With help from a couple of neighborhood boys, Faith lugs her priceless Louis XV elephant clock, countless Tiffany lamps, and everything else in her nineteenth-century mansion out onto her long, sloping lawn.
Why is a recluse of twenty years suddenly selling off her dearest posessions? Because God told her to.
As the ...