{"product_id":"9781452035024","title":"Family Gems: A Novel in Letters","description":"\u003cp\u003eFamily Gems is set in 1976 and 1977.  It consists of the written correspondence (including family recipes and small-town newspaper columns) between two middle-aged sisters, Jewell Mattingly Garrett of Buck Creek, Kentucky, and Ruby JaNelle Mattingly Clarkson of Falstaff, Arizona.  \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough their letters, other characters come alive:  their siblings—level-headed and loving brother Garnett Greene Mattingly and drug-and-alcohol-addicted, widowed sister Opal Ovada Mattingly Skaggs; their spouses, children, grandchildren, and other extended family members.  \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMany other eccentric characters from the community of Buck Creek, Kentucky also appear such as Teensie and Weensie Bottoms, fraternal twin sisters who co-own and operate the local beauty salon, along with Mr. Jerry Combs, a cross-dressing, homosexual hair dresser who rents a booth in the shop.  \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDuring the course of their correspondence, a lifetime of family secrets—including one son's coming out and one daughter's interracial romance and unplanned pregnancy—are revealed and reviewed, always with compassion and with humor, both warmhearted and wicked.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AuthorHouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182110654704,"sku":"9781452035024","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781452035024_p0.jpg?v=1763839585","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781452035024","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}