Lightning in a Mason Jar

A Novel

De: Catherine Mann

Narrado por: Shannon McManus, Ann Marie Gideon

In South Carolina, a woman discovers her aunt’s profound secrets in an emotional novel spanning decades about trauma, survival, and the bonds of female friendship by a USA Today bestselling author.

Since Bailey Rae Rigby’s adoptive aunt Winnie passed, Bent Oak, South Carolina, doesn’t have much of a hold on her anymore. So it seems.

Bailey Rae aims to settle the small estate and, armed with her aunt’s inspiring personal cookbook, buy a food truck with an ocean view in Myrtle Beach. Everything goes awry when a distraught young mother arrives in town clutching a copy of that same cookbook. Embedded inside is a code that promises a safe place in Bent Oak for desperate women on the run. For Bailey Rae it opens up a world of questions. Who really was the beloved aunt she’s known most of her life?

Winnie Ballard’s story reaches back fifty years—one of a Southern debutante’s harrowing marriage, of her escape and reinvention, and the galvanizing friendship of three resilient women who overcame their traumas, created a shelter, and found purpose. But there’s more to Winnie’s deliverance and long-held secrets than Bailey Rae imagines.

With each revelation, Bailey Rae draws on her aunt’s courage to find purpose herself. For now, whatever threats may come, Bailey Rae isn’t going anywhere.

©2025 by Catherine Mann. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Brilliant story of women helping women....

Heartfelt, moving performance of a brilliantly well told story.

There are so many wives (from years gone by and most definitely in the present today) who have suffered at the hands of both obviously abusive husbands and the ones who parade as upstanding citizens and often intellectually gifted Bible teachers, who at home are criminally abusing their wives both emotionally & psychologically. (Those two go hand-in-hand)

This book tells the tale of how women in our past have been pillars of strength in aiding, in supporting many of the helpless wives and children who have suffered in these ways yet found no relief in our communities, except to run into anonymity, leaving all else behind to save their lives & those of their children.

Beautiful Story of Woman's Strengths

I enjoyed this story of friendship and triumphs together. loved the duel time 1970s and 2025. Reminds us that we have to stay strong for none another.

Good story

Enjoyed it. Had all the things that bring me joy, different timelines, suspense and interesting characters.

Unremarkable…

It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either 🤷🏼‍♀️ the narrator was cringey and the storyline was fairly predictable.

So moving!

Beautiful story! Worth reading! The development of the story made a painful backdrop into a digestible revelation throughout the decades!