Although the book traces the Riant family from Reconstruction through the Great Depression, it's primarily "the 3rd Regina"'s story. Born and educated to be a Southern Belle, when that way of life disappears and her husband commits suicide, she needs to remake herself into a modern woman and keep her family afloat. ( )

I didn't understand this book. I did't understand the family, other than it was interesting to read about the time period, right before the Great Depression, and what happened to a family who was wealthy and and lost it all. But other than that, the family was too strange for me to identify with. They are Catholic, yes, and their religion is mentioned. But it's almost out of a duty they talk about it, I didn't get the feeling that they truly believed their faith, other than it was an obligation to be gotten through. Forgive my grammar. ( )