The Wide Smiles of Girls

Southern sisters March and Mae Wallace (that's a double name y'all) have been inseparable since childhood. They're two years apart with nothing in common but their love and friendship for each other. Mae Wallace is older, reserved and cautious. She prefers to watch as March jumps from boy to boy, man to man, and later, fiance to fiance. March has an insatiable appetite for adventure and a vivacious (bordering on reckless) need to keep her parents up at night. But sisters are bound to quarrel. Their relationship begins to strain when Mae Wallace starts dating one of March's former beaus and the divide that follows takes years to mend.

This story is firmly entrenched in the South and travels from Henderson to Atlanta to Charleston to a small island off the coast of South Carolina. You'll probably find yourself craving a glass of sweet tea -- I know I did. But at its heart, The Wide Smiles of Girls is for sisters -- if you are one, wish you had one, have them, or just don't understand them.

The Wide Smiles of Girls by Jennifer Manske Fenske (Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martins, June 2009)