Temple Secrets by Susan Gabriel

As you probably remember, my family vacationed in Savannah, Georgia last year. I was completely taken with the place, the culture, the food, the architecture -- yes, I could live there -- well, in the winter anyway because I understand that the summers are pretty bad with the heat.

So, since then, I have been reading a lot of books that involve Savannah.  The latest is "Temple Secrets" by Susan Gabriel.

It is the story of the Temple family -- a generations old Savannah family with connections to slavery and a whole lot of secrets.  The family is a blended family -- black and white -- wealthy landowners and slaves in the past and this is the modern day remnants of that family.

The main characters would appear to be Iris Temple, along with the  daughter and granddaughter of the some of the most influential men of Savannah at their time.  However, Iris's demise takes her out of the story pretty early and the attention goes to her half sister, Queenie, and her granddaughter, Violet.  Queenie is the daughter of Iris's father and Old Sally, a black housekeeper at the time.

Then there is Rose.  Rose is Iris's daughter with her husband Oscar.  She is Violet's half sister with Queenie being Violet's mother and Oscar being Violet's father.  History repeating itself.

And I thought my family tree was confusing.

And then there is the Book of Secrets.  It is a ledger that was kept of all the indiscretions of Savannah's rich and famous over the decades.   This book takes on a life of its own.

And Edward -- what an idiot.

And the ghosts.

I will just leave that here.  If you love Savannah, the south, ghosts or a humorous, messed up family story this is the book for you. 

Next on my list -- the sequel  -- "Gullah Secrets". Hopefully it will be just as enjoyable.