Where Flowers Grow

by Barbara Anne King

An ambitious man has dreams as big as the valley he calls home. But will his dreams be thwarted by a wife turned alcoholic? Where Flowers Grow is a family saga spanning forty years during the last half of the 20th century. It’s an inspirational story of a family determined to succeed in the face of mounting forces seeking to crush them at every turn. California 1953. The story opens in the decade sandwiched between World War II and the Sixties Cultural Revolution. Richard Bankston has just moved his Boston bride, Gina, to the small town on Monterey Bay where he is a civil engineer with an up-and-coming construction company headquartered there—a town with the richest farmland in the world, some of which he eyes for himself. Richard is proud of his new wife, who adds class to his image and is oblivious to her discontent with provincial life. Together, they create a family and a vibrant social life until things fall apart. Richard discovers that Gina has a drinking problem and despite several tries at rehab, she cannot shake her addiction to alcohol. With the family in crisis, Richard has no choice but to divorce Gina. In one fell swoop, he gains custody of his four sons and purchases the ranch of his dreams, which he hopes will one day make him millions. Cesar Chavez and his United Farm Workers Union are threatening strikes. Richard’s concerns increase when he and his sons start a flower farm that requires farmhands to get the flowers harvested for market. And if labor strikes aren’t enough, droughts and floods do the rest to hobble them. However, they persevere and become one of the top flower growers in California. Even a Hollywood director takes notice and films their field of purple statice for his movie’s opening scene. But Mother Nature still has one more wallop to deliver—a massive earthquake that devastates the town while bringing Gina back into his life. Richard has barely come up for air when a new foe rears its ugly head. After overcoming so many challenges, will Richard’s dreams end in disaster? Where Flowers Grow captures a tumultuous period in California history through the trials and tribulations of the Bankston family. But as Lady Bird Johnson’s quote reveals—"Where flowers grow, so does hope.” If you like inspirational stories about a determined hero who never gives up, then you’ll enjoy reading Where Flowers Grow.

326 pages, Paperback

Published November 2, 2021

About the author

series, featuring multicultural stories told from the heart.

Barbara was born and raised in Watsonville, California, a third-generation Croatian-American whose great, great uncles were pioneers in the town’s apple industry which they helped develop into the Apple Capital of the World. After graduating from UCLA with a political science degree, she headed east for a job on Capitol Hill. She also worked in broadcast journalism and corporate public affairs before trading the work world for the home front to raise three children. But while she may have left California, it never left her, and she remains a California Girl who is a proud new member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Barbara and her husband live in Connecticut.



www.barbaraanneking.com
author@barbaraanneking.com

Reviews

[Susan Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Flowers Grow adds a third book to Barbara Anne King’s panorama of her hometown of Watsonville, California. The town has an interesting history and diverse population and there are many stories hidden in its homes, clubs, political hallways and valleys. Where Flowers Grow plants Gina Bankston, a Boston girl, in the heart of this small town as the new wife of a very ambitious and competent young man, Richard Bankston. But while Richard is making his mark socially and politically, his wife’s life is slowly dwindling with few friends and opportunities and Richard barely notices. He is building the life he wants and working toward his dream. Alcohol becomes Gina’s best friend, leading to divorce and her husband gaining custody of their four boys. The book then switches from their life as a couple and Greg’s growing political inroads to the farm where he hopes his boys will all share in building a flower-growing empire.

From the early 50’s through to the 60’s, society and political upheaval make their marks on the lives and ambitions of Richard, his sons and neighbors. Yes, Richard builds a stunning flower farm with one son in particular interested in making it a success. A blooming success it is --and famous too, but Cesar Chavez and the fight for farm workers' rights, and natural disasters take their toll. One son drops out. Gina tries various ways to rehabilitate herself. The flower farm competes with that of a kind, generous Japanese neighbor.

There is a mix of fair-minded people trying to make all aspects of life work in this small town amidst the push and pull of outside circumstances. King weaves a fascinating story. Tension is never very high, however, as seldom an eyebrow or voice is raised as people try to live their best lives. For me, even though bad and sad things happen to many of the characters, there is never quite enough tension. But I kept reading because the book presents likeable characters and an interesting sweep of a town, the flower industry and an era.

[Brooke Sampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the third installment of her Monterey Bay series, Barbara Anne King traces one ambitious man's pursuit of power and fortune as an aspiring grower in the fertile lands of the Pajaro Valley, amidst the emergence of the farmworker movement, the rising power of the Mexicano community, and the changing cultural landscape.