A Life of Bright Ideas: A NovelA secret tore best friends Evelyn “Button” Peters and Winnalee Malone apart. Now, nearly a decade later, a secret brings them back together. Nine years ago Button and Winnalee began recording observations in their Book of Bright Ideas, a tome they believed would solve the mystery of how to live a mistake-free life. Now it’s 1970, a time of peace, love, war, and personal heartbreak. Button’s mother is dead and her grieving father has all but abandoned his children. Quiet, thoughtful Button has traded college for a sewing job in her mother’s bridal shop to help her Aunt Verdella raise her whirlwind six-year-old brother. In Button’s free time, she writes letters to the boy she loved from afar through high school, hoping he will come to love her as more than a friend. Then, like that magical Wisconsin summer of ’61, Button is greeted with the wild, gusty arrival of Winnalee. Now a beautiful flower child, Winnalee is everything Button is not. She’s been to Woodstock and enjoys “free love,” but their steadfast bond of friendship is tested as Button begins to notice the cracks in Winnalee’s carefree façade. And then Winnalee’s mother arrives with a surprise that Button never sees coming, and the fiery determination to put things right in both families once and for all. |
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anymore arms Aunt Verdella asked baby beer bell-bottoms boobs Boohoo BRIGHT IDEA Brody Button called carhop cheek Cindy Craig Cupcake Dad's dance Dauber Dewey door doughnuts dress Evalee Evalee's eyes face Fanny Tilman feel felt Freeda front gave giggled girls glanced gonna grabbed guess guys hair hand Hannah head heard hippie hips honey hurried inside Jesse kitchen knees knew Knucklehead Kool-Aid lady laughed leaned legs Linda looked Ma's Malones marijuana Marls mouth nalee night nodded okay picked pulled Purple Haze road Rudy Peters sewing shirt shit shook shouted side sitting smile sorry Spider-Man stared stood stopped sure talk tell things thought told Tommy Tommy headed Tommy's took truck turned Uncle Rudy Uncle Rudy's waiting watching wearing window Winnalee asked Winnalee's Woodstock yarn Yeah