
On a moonlit May evening in California, eighteen‑year‑old Cherry Strickland bursts through the front door of her family's modest bungalow, still trembling from the exhilaration of a sudden engagement. The house, usually ordinary, glows with a new, almost magical light as Cherry wrestles with the sweet terror of love that feels too perfect to be real. Her thoughts swirl between the joy of a promised future with Martin and the fear that the dream might dissolve at sunrise.
The cramped home is already populated with a cast of vivid characters: a scholarly father who cradles a book while welcoming his daughter, the practical yet tender aunt Anne, and Cherry’s enigmatic sister Alix, whose restless spirit hints at hidden desires. As the family gathers around the familiar rooms, the atmosphere crackles with unspoken expectations and the fragile hope that this newfound happiness will survive the ordinary rhythms of daily life. Listeners are invited to linger in the warm, lilac‑scented hallway and feel the delicate balance between youthful optimism and the weight of family bonds.
Language
en
Duration
~8 hours (517K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines.
Release date
2004-01-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1880–1966
A bestselling American novelist of the early 20th century, she wrote popular stories about family life, marriage, and social expectations. Her books reached a huge readership and helped make her one of the most widely read women writers of her era.
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