Empty Vows - (A Lexington, Alabama Novel) by Mary Monroe (Paperback)

About the Book

Popular, generous, forty-something widow Jessie Tucker decides to make herself indispensable to recently widowed Hubert Wiggins but is disappointed when he is not everything she dreamed he would be and instead turns her attentions to a much younger man.

Book Synopsis

In this scandalous follow-up to the Depression-era saga Mrs. Wiggins, the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author transports readers to the Deep South, as a proper church-going woman determined to snare Alabama's most-sought after widower finds his secret desires and righteous lies come as a package deal...

Forty-something widow Jessie Tucker is beloved throughout Lexington, Alabama, for her kind heart and endless generosity. But she feels it's past time she rewarded herself--especially when upstanding Hubert Wiggins tragically loses his wife and son. Making herself indispensable, yet discouraged by Hubert's lack of romantic interest, Jessie cooks up a deception she knows will make pious Hubert do right by her . . .

Hoax or not, Hubert couldn't be happier. The passionate self he's long hidden from everyone has a new, much-riskier secret love. And the unsuspecting second Mrs. Wiggins will help him maintain his

ever-so-devout image in the community . . .

But when Hubert is not the ardent lover Jessie always dreamed he was, she turns to handsome younger man Conway. Suddenly the "good church wife" can't resist temptation at all. And someone is watching: Conway's new girlfriend--and Jessie's longtime rival--Blondeen. Now Blondeen has the perfect opportunity to destroy Jessie's reputation--then become the wife Hubert should have had all along. Unless all their secrets destroy them first.

Review Quotes

Praise for Mary Monroe

"Her willingness to do anything for her loved ones is relatable, and the emboldening influence of her desperation and the incremental gravity of her deceptiveness heighten the narrative's mesmerizing effect. Although scenes of rape and sexual abuse shape Monroe's unflinching dramatization of difficult but important themes of sexuality, sexual trauma, and survival, they do not weigh down the story, but rather enrich its resonance." --Booklist on Mrs. Wiggins

"Drama, suspense, small town charm...Mary Monroe packed it all into the finale of her beloved Neighbors series that transports readers back to 1930s Alabama." --Woman's World on Across the Way

"Monroe brings her exciting Neighbors trilogy to a dramatic and memorable conclusion, as she explores how social tension and conflict complicate jealousy and romance in an African American enclave in a small Alabama town during the Great Depression." --Booklist on Across the Way

"In this first volume of her new series, New York Times bestselling author Monroe convincingly portrays a time and place where desperation is the norm." --Library Journal on One House Over

"A very believable portrayal of the African American experience in a hard place at a hard time." --Historical Novels Review on One House Over

"Mary Monroe is an exceptional writer and phenomenal storyteller!" --Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times bestselling author on One House Over

"Mary Monroe is a fantastic writer and has a real knack for creating characters with substance and dimension." --This Black Girl Reads on Over the Fence

"Monroe brings the Deep South Prohibition-era world to life in a captivating tale of greed and consequences and primes readers to find out what happens among these complicated neighbors in the next book." --Booklist on Over the Fence

"Monroe reveals sympathetic aspects and complex motivations for each character in this engrossing setting." --Booklist on One House Over

"Mary Monroe deftly captures the steamy intrigues of her characters' complicated lives in this Depression-era story that readers will find impossible to put down." --Susan Holloway Scott, author of I, Eliza Hamilton, on One House Over

About the Author

Mary Monroe is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of over 20 novels, with over one million books in print. She is a three-time AALBC bestseller and winner of the AAMBC Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the J. California Cooper Memorial Award. The daughter of Alabama sharecroppers, she taught herself how to write before going on to become the first and only member of her family to finish high school. She lives in Oakland, California and can be found online at MaryMonroe.org.