1 of 1 copy available
In 1990, Jeannie Ralston was a successful magazine writer and bona fide city girl—the type of woman who couldn't imagine living on soil not shaded by skyscrapers. By 1994, she had called off an engagement, married Robb, a National Geographic photographer, and was living in Blanco Texas, population 1600.
In The Unlikely Lavender Queen, Ralston offers a lively chronicle of her life as a wife, new mother and an urban settler in rural Texas. As she labors to convert a dilapidated barn into a livable home, deal with scorpions and unbearably hot summers, and raise two young children while Robb is frequently away on assignment, she realizes her ultimate struggle is to reconcile her life plans and goals with her husband's without coming out the proverbial loser. And just when it seems like she might be losing that fight—and herself—a little purple bloom changes her life.
For centuries lavender has been a mystical herb, so valuable to ancient Romans that a bushel would cost nearly a month's wages. But when Robb returns from a trip to Provence with a plan for growing lavender on their land, Ralston is not convinced—in fact the last thing she needed or wanted was to take up farming on top of everything else. Then, much to her surprise, she slowly but surely falls in love with lavender, and in the course of growing and selling blooms, hosting the public at the farm, and creating lavender products, she discovers a new side of herself. A few short years later, Ralston had built Hill Country Lavender, a thriving commercial enterprise that transforms both her little corner of Texas and her life.
The Unlikely Lavender Queen will resonate with all women who have faced the tough choices that come with "having it all" and secretly (or not so secretly) hoped for great adventure to come along and surprise them. Ralston's memoir is a testament to the fact that such adventures await us around every bend in life.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
May 27, 2008 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780767930086
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780767930086
- File size: 450 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
March 17, 2008
Arriving in Manhattan for a McCall’s
magazine summer internship when she was 21, Ralston was smitten with big-city life. Soon she had the career of her dreams, a Chelsea apartment, even a film student fiancé. Then, on a feature assignment for Life
, she met Robb, a photographer for National Geographic
, and her life was up-ended. Before long, Ralston was leaving her boyfriend and New York City, to move with Robb to his home state of Texas. They settled first in Austin, but Robb wanted a less urban lifestyle, so they bought land with a creek and an old stone barn in the Texas Hill Country. Robb’s busy schedule of international photo shoots left Ralston in charge of house renovations, hardly her forte. Then Robb had his next idea—they’d raise lavender on their limestone-rich land, which was similar to the soil of Provence. Ralston agreed, provided they start having children. Together, they began a successful niche-industry, growing and processing lavender into a variety of marketable products. In this satisfying and enjoyable story, the reluctant Ralston eventually falls in love with their fields of lavender. -
May 1, 2008
Her life sounds like the pilot for the old Green Acres TV show. When her husband, Robb, a globe-hopping photographer for National Geographic, declares his desire to abandon life in the big city, Ralston, a high-powered New York journalist, finds herself forsaking her Manolo Blahniks for Birkenstocks and her Central Park jogging track for a dirt lane in the bagel-free, latte-less Texas hill country. As if converting an abandoned barn into a residence worthy of Architectural Digest while raising two boisterous sons werent taxing enough, Ralston is nearly stretched to the breaking point when Robb returns from their Provenal vacation convinced that their farm boasts an ideal environment for growing lavender. Between infestations of lethal scorpions and intrusions of wayward livestock, Robbs absence at watershed moments forces Ralston to muster an inner strength and sense of adventure she never knew she possessed. Brimming with piquant observations on everything from marriage to motherhood, careers to cappuccino, Ralstons exuberant memoir showcases the resiliency of the human spirit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)
-