I’m delighted to feature the fabulous T. I. Lowe on the blog again and honoured by this extra special feature she has created for you, my readers. I’ve had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ T. I. when she visited my book club in 2019, thanks to the wonders of technology, as we discussed her hit novel, Lulu’s Cafe. If you are yet to read one of her novels, make haste to change that!

Thanks to Tyndale House, we are also giving away a copy of Under the Magnolias, so be sure to enter below.

And even better, check out the special online Author Chat Event with Francine Rivers and T. I. Lowe, taking place Thursday May 15 – more details below!

This night not only marked the end to the drought, but also the end to the long-held secret we’d kept hidden under the magnolias.

Magnolia, South Carolina, 1980

Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.

Scratching out a living on the family’s tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.

Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her—with the son of a wealthy local family who she’s crushed on for years—her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family’s secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth.

T. I. Lowe’s gritty yet tender and uplifting tale reminds us that a great story can break your heart . . . then heal it in the best possible way.

A Day in the Life of Austin Foster

When I was presented the opportunity to write this article for Rel, I wanted it to be a thank-you gift to Rel and her reader friends for being supportive of my storytelling dream. So just for y’all, I wrote a brand-new scene for Under the Magnolias instead of a typical article post. I hope you enjoy!

1989

The barn creaked out a warning as the wind whistled through the rafters. Dawn was approaching, but I chose to roll over in my sleeping bag and pretend another day hadn’t already shown up. No, I wanted to remain cocooned up in the loft and in last night’s memory of the dimple-grinning, green-eyed man who wouldn’t leave me the heck alone. That image alone had me grinning like a fool.

Vance Cumberland was too smooth, too charming, too dang likable, and I was going to end up ruining him if he didn’t get it through his thick head to stay away from me. I’d called things off with him late last year, yet he continued to show up in my life. He was much like an indulgent treat, too rich and tempting to pass up, but I was always worse off afterwards.

I might have been twenty-one, a grown woman by most standards, but I still lived under my father’s roof. For that reason, I needed to respect his house rules, even if Pa couldn’t adhere to anything resembling common sense as of late. No way did his rules allow for a young man to be sneaking around his farm at night with me.

The old rooster crowed just outside as the gray sky turned into ribbons of orange and pink, declaring the day was getting underway whether I was ready or not. Unzipping the sleeping bag and sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and scanned the dusty loft that I considered my safe haven.

My gaze stopped on the yellowing maps lining the wall. Ordinary road maps to most, but to me, it was the Foster family tree. Each city circled represented a member of my family: Boston, Phoenix, Raleigh, Charlotte, Knoxville, Nashville, and of course me, Austin.

Unable to put off the inevitable any longer, I glanced away from the maps and climbed down the ladder. I moved through the packhouse and kept on until I made it to the back door that led into the kitchen. No lights were on in the aging two-story farmhouse, but that would soon change. My first order of business was to get the coffee going, then make breakfast for the eight heads that lived here. After that, it would be a race to get the chores divvied out and the younger kids set up to stay out of trouble while the rest of us worked.

Sounded easy enough, yet it all hinged on what version of Dave Foster I would be presented with, if he chose to present himself at all. It saddened me to admit this, but it was easier when he decided to not show up, isolating himself in his shadows. At least on those days, I could keep everyone else on a semi-normal routine. One where we didn’t have to worry about walking on eggshells. No, I take that back. There were no eggshells around the Foster home, more like shards of glass. Stepping on eggshells didn’t leave a mark like glass did. Figuratively, I assure you. Never literal. Dave Foster only left the literal variety on himself.

As I mixed a can of Nestle’s Quik into a gallon of milk, my thoughts drifted back to Vance and the first time he popped in here while I was making chocolate milk for the masses. In a ridiculous outfit that wasn’t fitting for a day of farming, his determination to do just that for my sake wasn’t something easily forgotten. Sure, Vance ended up nearly on his deathbed by the end of the workday, but also by the end of that day I knew I was in love with him and that meant nothing good for either one of us.

As you can see, there is a lot more to a day in the life of Austin Foster besides farmwork and chores. I hope you enjoyed this exclusive scene written just for Rel and will enjoy the rest of Austin’s story in Under the Magnolias.

Thank you, Tonya, for sharing such a delightful gift of this scene – so sweet of you!

T. I. Lowe is an ordinary country girl who loves to tell extraordinary stories and is the author of nearly twenty published novels, including her debut, Lulu’s Café, a number one bestseller. She lives with her husband and family in coastal South Carolina. Find her at tilowe.com or on Facebook (T.I.Lowe), Instagram (tilowe), and Twitter (@TiLowe).

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Buy at Amazon: Under the Magnolias or Koorong