Barbara Braun, my agent, who trusts my love of storytelling and my commitment to share it with others.
Rick and Karen Miller, who invited me to a dinner party, but offered lifelong friendship and a girl named Bezellia.
Bonnie MacDonald, whose passion and courage was inspiration for Bezellia and continues to be for myself.
Lee Smith, whose generosity as writer, teacher, and friend has been a model to emulate.
Darnell Arnoult, who shares her love of storytelling as generously as she does her heart.
Roy Morris Jr., whose encouragement has been always appreciated and whose talent is always inspiring.
Becky Brothers, a Southern girl, who has a thirst for big stories and a patience for their telling.
Annaliese and Albert Vergara, who come whenever called.
Lisa Morse, Athena Wood, Carey McAniff, Kathleen Chapman, Ann Watkins, Babs Behar, Audrey Wilcox, Dana Battaglia, Mary Hackett, Kisha Campbell, Julie Schoerke, Ellen Ward, Karen Schettman, Jackie Tanase, Kaye Richardson, Christy Strick, Debbie Berletic, Nancy Ellen Libscomb, Paige Crutcher, women who have journeyed with me, some longer than others, some farther than others, but all willing to walk another mile.
And my big, wonderful, growing family, specifically, Mary Hall Gregg, Alice Gregg Haase and Vicky Gregg, Susan Moore, Tricia Gilmore and Fred Gregg, Tom Purdy, Dick Haase, and Chuck Gilmore, sisters and brothers, whose love and generosity is never-failing … and a whole passel of cousins, nieces, and nephews that I just downright adore!
My precious husband, Dan, and my three spectacular daughters, Claudia, Josephine, and Alice, every day you remind me of my greatest blessings.
And my sweet, kindhearted, tender mother, Mary, if only Bezellia had been loved like I am!
about the author
SUSAN GREGG GILMORE is the author of the novel Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen. She has written for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Born in Nashville, she lives in Tennessee with her husband and three daughters.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Susan Gregg Gilmore
All rights reserved.
www.crownpublishing.com
Shaye Areheart Books with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gilmore, Susan Gregg.
The improper life of Bezellia Grove: a novel / Susan Gregg Gilmore.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Interracial dating—Fiction. 2. Family secrets—Fiction. 3. Nashville
(Tenn.)—Fiction. 4. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
813′.6—dc22 2009048110
eISBN: 978-0-307-59233-0
v3.0