This book found me when I was getting ready to board a plane in the late 80s. The cover lead me to believe the book would not force me to think, so I grabbed it and ran to my gate. I have not stopped thinking about it since. Written in first person, the book details the life of Anna, an only child whose mother dies when she is a teenager (don't worry, her larger-than-life relative, Mamie, comes to live with her and teaches her the love of music) This could easily be a depressing theme, unrequited love, but Kitty Burns Florey bescribes the 60's on the east coast, and Anna's and Will's unique, funny and sad life experiences and with such honesty and detail and, well, beauty, that I felt as though I had lived the story, not read it. This book screams to be made into a movie. I have passed this beautiful story on to many many friends and they've all said the same thing, this story lives and breathes, it's an utterly romantic story, timeless. Find it, Read it, LOVE it! Merry we part...

Kitty Burns Florey's Souvenir of Cold Springs is an engrossing novel that links the lives and experiences of generations of women from the Kerwin family. In each chapter, lies are revealed, secrets are unraveled and connections are made between the lives, emotions and experiences of four generations of women. Unbeknownst to each woman, their lives strikingly parallel each other, and the desire for power and freedom runs through all of their veins.

Most remarkably, Florey captures the voices of these women, each character is real, strong and striking. We learn to understand their needs, wants, desires, and frustrations. We share their anger, joy, resentment, boredom and sadness, privy to their private lives and thoughts.

I highly recommend this book!

Souvenir of Cold Springs is an engaging novel about the lives of eight young women brought together by lineage, love, and shared pain. You will grow to empathize with all of these women whose lives parallel and intersect each other in striking ways. A wonderful weekend read, Souvenir of Cold Springs reminds me of the value of females. . . our complexity of hopes, dreams, and secrets.
This series of vignettes is pieced together in a marvelous web that shows us the common threads of existence including love, death, and change. Florey writes in a scrumptious manner detailing the commonplace, frivolous thoughts that make her characters so realistic. I would highly recommend this book as a thought provoking work on what ties relatives and more aptly women to one another.

I must confess that I wasn't sure about reading this book at first ~~ it sounded so depressing especially when the novel started off with Margaret who is dealing with an unwanted pregnancy and the aftermath of an abortion. However, as I continue to read this book, I find it very intriguing and very interesting. It's definitely a book geared to mothers and daughters ~~ and Florey describes the intricate interweaving of relationships between mothers, daughters, sisters and lovers with a flair that most authors don't seem to have these days.

This book is also written in an unique way. Florey starts with the present ~~ Margaret, the fifth generation, then it travels back into time. Florey takes a chapter for each woman and brings these women alive with feelings, dreams and broken dreams, unfulfilled desires and sadness, and on and on. It's wonderfully written and I loved it. I, personally, can relate to every character in the book ~~ and Florey has done a wonderful job of bringing them to life. These are women who are flesh and blood like the rest of us.

I wouldn't hesitate to pick up this book ~~ fortunately, my mother picked it up and loaned it to me to read. I can't wait to give it back to her and urge her to read it next! Like mother, like daughter. =) This is a book you should read and pass onto all the mothers and sisters and daughters in your life.

5-8-03