Divine Secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood

By Rebecca Wells,1996
Would I recommend this book for a book club? Definitely.

This is a novel about a mother and a daughter, friendships and reconciliation with the past. It takes place in Catholic central Louisiana. The daughter has difficulty moving forward in her relationship until she is able to forgive her mother. She discovers truths about herself by learning the truth about her mother in the scrapbook of divine secrets made by the four friends, the ya-yas.

This book reminded me of the importance of the sensual in life, like eating spicy home-cooked food, swimming in a cold lake, laughing with friends, smelling the the scents from the flower garden. I wanted to take in the sights, sounds and scents, that a good life has to offer. So I went and got a massage as a Christmas present to myself. I needed to slow down and feel. But now I'm back to normal again, trying to strike a balance between feeling good and being good. You can go too far either way. In the book piety is taken too far and so the characters favor only the sensual.