Painted Dresses

In the rich tradition of powerful Southern writing comes an unforgettable novel that explores the beauty hidden with brokenness and loss. Crushed by a failed marriage and other life disappointments, Gaylen Syler-Boatwright flees to a mountain cottage owned by her recently deceased Aunt Amity. There she discovers a curious gallery of framed painted dresses, collected from special family occasions and enshrined to reflect some hidden meaning known only to her aunt. After finding a travelogue that hints at the secrets each garment represents, Gaylen and her unpredictable younger sister Delia embark on a search for far-flung relatives in hopes of piecing together the seemingly lost truth. Along the way the two sisters wrestle through the ongoing pain of their relationship even as they uncover an unsettling pain of their own relationship even as they uncover an unsettling family history that threatens to destroy what little remains of Gaylen's self-confidence. With lyrical poignancy and winsome and humorous sense of Southern culture, Hickman weaves extraordinary truths out of ordinary losses, revealing the often-overlooked beauty-and unavoidable pain-of living in community.