Verbena: A Novel

by Nanci Kincaid

Set in contemporary small town America, this is the story of Verbena Martin Eckert McHale ("Bena," for short), an indomitable woman who is damned—but not doomed—by the bad behavior and bad luck of her two husbands. When Bena's first husband, Bobby Eckert, dies in a car wreck, she's left with their five children, a little mortgaged house, a little bit of insurance, and a big empty place in her heart. Not to mention that the hole Bobby left is jagged around the edges—he wasn't in the car alone and Bena hadn't had a clue about his girlfriend. So now she's a cheated-on widow with five grief-stricken children to finish raising. No matter. No matter that she almost burns the house down when she discovers the marijuana farm in their backyard or that she has terrible, loud crying jags in church. When it gets down to it, Bena's backbone bends minimally and her moral center holds. By the time she's ready to invest again in romance, Bena know what she wants. When she finds the right man and the right circumstances, she doesn't hesitate—she marries Lucky McHale. And what does he do? He disappears off the face of the earth.Verbena is the vibrant story of an extraordinary ordinary woman—strong, emotional, headstrong, sexy, funny—an especially American woman, one worth knowing and cheering.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Novels, Adult, Romance, Family

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Therese Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kindle is so mired in my highlights on this book, I swear it’s running slower!

“What women do you know who aren’t hard on themselves?”

“Sometimes people needed lies in their lives in the worst ways. Lies could actually save their lives when the truth might kill them.”


“...so proud of herself, so sure that the future was a good place, so excited to go into it with nothing but milk money in her pocket.”

“All I got to work with is reason and reason ain’t what it used to be.”

“Most women don’t really need psychiatrists anyway-not if they have a true friend.”

Lots of observations on the human condition that sparked something inside me.

Our heroine, Verbena, a twice wed mom of five, is holding down a job, holding together her family, holding down the fort financially, and she really pullled me into her story life. As a mom myself, I had some of the same challenges. (But with two children!). I swear this character dragged me right into her inner circle of family and friends. I cried when it was ended and I couldn’t stay with her and her loved ones.

The hallmark of a great tale ~ when you don’t want to leave it and you know you will return to relive it.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

it’s a mother’s story, a story about a mother, how a mother thinks, feels, lives for everyone but herself – makes that self-sacrifice a beautiful thing, a gift, not something to resent – about how children are tied to their mother – about lots of different kinds of love – a beautiful, thoughtful, touching story

[Chris Godwaldt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to describe Verbena. It wasn’t magical, it wasn’t jaw-droppingly spectacular, but it was simple. And powerful in that simplicity. The prose was luscious without being fluffy, almost velvety smooth.

It’s a definite five star recommendation from me.

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I lost interest about half way through. Things just seemed to get sort of boring. Maybe someday I'll pick it up again, but with so many other books out there, I doubt it.

[Debi Crawford-Poyner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book to read during the Stay Home time of April 2020!
.

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t want to stop reading, but I did spend the entire book picturing the protagonist as Peggy Hill from King of the Hill. Interpret that info however works for you.

[Crystalclearwpg · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...the belief that there are never enough blessings to go around, never enough happiness for everybody. Like each family is allowed just a little bit and you got to be careful not to use it up too fast...so a momma has got to divvy things up. not too much happiness for this one because then there won't be enough for that one..."
How many times have we as mothers found ourselves forgoing our own happiness to make sure there was enough for our children? If we are happy for a moment and they are sad we feel guilty or I can't treat myself because that might take something away from my kids.
This is a story about motherhood. What we go through and how we try to balance out all the day to day trials. This is also about second chances or taking risks for happiness. Verbena looses one life and tries to balance out another while also trying to steer her children down the right paths (as we perceived paths to be) and keep her family together.
This is an actual 3 1/2 star rating.

[Jacqueline Abou-Rizk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smi!e

This book is about so much life and love. I enjoyed all the twists and turns and was left smiling at the end.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can't help but root for Bena and her self-sacrificial mothering instinct to find some happiness for herself. And it's hard to imagine what can go wrong with Lucky, who you also have to root for, after all he has been through. But when Lucky pulls out the wedding photo of his parents, who look blissfully content, and muses over how two people can look so happy, yet end up so miserable together (just as his parents did), you know that ominous feeling isn't by accident.

A sad book, but a true book. One that you believe in because you can see your friends and family, and even bits of yourself in the characters.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Verbena isn't good. It's long, it's boring, it tells rather than shows. There's no plot to speak of, and any character development is quite meager.

But... BUT - there is something there. Maybe it's just my silly sentimentality, but I like the tone, the feeling of Verbena. It wasn't good enough to keep me from skimming the last hundred pages or so, but fans of The Bridges of Madison County-esque stories and fans of southern fiction will probably enjoy this book and its simplistic structure.

[C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters are good, setting is descriptive, and the story itself pulls you along...but I really struggled to finish the book. At some point, scenes start to feel ‘contrived’ and Lucky’s vocabulary goes from helping define the character to detracting from him. Verbena’s change of self is written well, but her reactions to the hardships in her life progressively seem to lose depth. It’s not a bad book, but needs a good editor. With the pruning of a hundred pages of cumbersome lamenting, unnecessarily cliches to remind us we’re in the Deep South, and a small dose of story line pruning, it would have been a compelling read.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books you go in knowing will be a bit fluffy and not full of sophistication, but other than some huge plot holes and some unbelievable plot lines the ending sped up like a freight train and was touching and emotional all at once. Good read if you're into Southern US fiction in particular.

[Starla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! A story of love from all aspects. Mother, children, friends and lovers. The book made me feel like I was in the South. At times slow, but in a good way. The way it is, I imagine, living in a small southern town. The ending for me was especially moving.

[Lori Galaske · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second time through this book and I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did the first time around! There's not a lot of suspense, which I typically prefer in any novel, but somehow Nanci Kincaid pulls it off. She draws the reader into the story, making it difficult to put down.

[Maureen Swope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with author and story that made me feel every emotion and hate to set it aside to do what I had to do...even bought another and trying to find Crossing Blood and Pretending the Raft is a Bed.....it is fully entertaining

Maureen Swope

[Jackie Valentino · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good at first and then got really slow and kinda hokey and then it ended ok. Not something I would jump to recommend or anything but it wasn't a total waste of time either.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read about a woman who reacts realistically to tragedy and the challenges of being disappointed with her family's choices.

[April Sutherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it.

[Ramey Channell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this book!

[Frances Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the writing was better than the book itself; I would like to try others by this author. Well written, but somehow the story did not grab me.

[Sherri Ottis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. This woman went through a lot and came out very strong and yet not bitter.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story of a woman trying to figure out who she is, all while holding her family together after the sudden loss of her husband. It was a hopeful story of a strong woman.

[Janice Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching, moving story. I got involved with the characters and caught up in the story. I even cried a bit.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I loved this book.

[Rebecca Konik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Verbena

Great read. Enjoyed every page, word, and characters. Thank you Nancy Kincaid for a wonderful story. Shelving for the future.

[JUDY B STRUBE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy's pond

The good times and the not so good of a family in Alabama. All the secrets and they're still a family.

[Jodell · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no chapter's just a beginning, a middle, and an end this book. Or part one, part two and part three.

Part 1.
Verbenia is married to Joe they have 5 kids. Yup that's right 5 kids. She teaches sixth grade. I don't know how she does it. Neither does she. Then one day Joe is in a car accident and dies. Yep, dies but not only does he die, so dose his girlfriend no one knew about in the car with him.

Now Verbena is alone with 5 kids but wait she was alone when she was married with 5 kids. For five long years she grieves the loss of what might have been as her kids start getting into their own. Well, they say grief is the price you pay for love. I just don't know if Joe deserved that kind of grief Verbena gave him.

Part 2. Verbenia starts dating Lucky the mail man, but Lucky has been married to Sue Cox for 20 years. Everyone loves Lucky. Her kids, his ex, the community. Lucky always wanted a family now he has one. It is true love if I ever read it.

Part 3.
The hardest part is the truest part. Nothing last forever. I can't tell you what happens you will have to read the book just like I did. But I ended up liking the book a lot. There is a lot of very true and interesting observations made by Verbena and Lucky in the book. If it were on my kindle Id of highlighted the hell out of the observations. Here are just a few:

Thats the trouble with the truth. Nobody wants to tell it, and nobody wants to hear it.

Maybe pain is a basic human craving that certain people never get enough of

Sometimes people lie in the worst ways.

Lies could actually save their lives when the truth might kill them.

She could see inside certain people around her and know things she had no right to know.

Happiness is not for everybody. Some of us need excitement or even pain don't mean we want it. I mean we need it, we got to take risk we got to cause trouble because that's how we know were alive.

I start feeling dead inside and then I got to make something happen, you know to bring myself back to life.

What woman do you know who aren't hard on themselves?

Sometimes joy is nothing more than lying quietly besides the person you love most. Listening to them breath. Joy can be silent, one of those rare satisfying moments when the right time, the right place, and the right person collide perfectly, and you drift off to sleep with everything unspoken
and absolutely understood.

There's a moment when a mother realizes her job is nearly done. Anything she left unfinished will stay unfinished forever. In just the span of a few heartbeats she realizes that her children see her as someone to be looked after just the way Shes always seen them They begin to worry about her the same way she worries about them.

[Mike Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to enjoy novels set in the South and this was no exception. I'm familiar with the ways of Southerners and this book reminded me of many of them from the odd nicknames, and even names, people go by. One character was always called "Sue Cox". Cox was not her surname and it was never explained why she was Sue Cox. There was a host of other given names and nicknames unique to me and for whatever reason those handles made me smile.

Heat, humidity, bugs, snakes, and open-door friendliness are as real as iced tea, barbeque, and parking in the front yard throughout. There were the trials and tribulations of having a limited income (despite the protagonist being a teacher), and limited opportunities. Toss in having probably too many children, infidelity, fundamentalist religion, leavened with loving support from family and friends and you have part of the fabric of the novel. There are many very strong characters, each also flawed, just like all of us.

About 80% through reading some parts didn't ring true, but maybe they did ring true. My opinion of the plot won't match the opinions of others. However, I continued to read and I'm happy that I did. I was left with pondering the motivations of some of the characters and virtually all of those characters were warm, good people. All in all a book worth my time.

[Gayle Cappelluti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verbena tells the tale of a harried wife and mom of five, a sixth grade teacher, who is stunned by "the news" that her husband has been killed in a car accident. At the time of his death, Bobby, Verbena's husband, was in the company of a young woman. But why? What was he doing with her? What was their relationship?
As Verbena heals, raises her family, takes care of her students and adjusts to the life of a widow, the reader is teated to the fun relationships this young woman shares with friends from her small Alabama county while she learns all the secrets of her deceased husband's life. It is at that point that Verbena really begins to live.
Bena's children grow as she does, experiencing the growing pains we are all subject to. One thing all the characters share in this warm story of family and friendship is love and love in abundance. I really liked it, even when it was sad.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some readers may think this is a sappy, romantic story of a woman dealing with a job, children and all the men in her life but I found this book to be a heartfelt study on a woman, who while loving others, finds fault with herself and her approach to dealing with “how” she loves. Does she do too much, expect too much, forgive others but not herself and above all looks to “God” to understand it all. Sappy? Yes, in places; Romantic? Absolutely if you consider a woman’s love for the man in her life; and heartfelt? No doubt - brought tears to my eyes and a smile more than once. Delightful read!