Bridge of Sand by Janet Burroway

I had never read anything by this author and am a bit embarrassed to say that I had not heard of her before. Apparently, she is the author of one of the top selling and  most respected books on the craft of writing, and has written a novel nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She writes poems, plays, children's books and fiction, Quite prolific. She wrote for Mademoiselle Magazine as a Guest Editor in the 1970's a position also held by Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion.
So, I learned all of this after having read Bridge of Sand because I was curious about this wonderfully talented author. The novel opens on 9/11 as Dana, the heroine, is driving to her husband's funeral in Western Pennsylvania only to see a huge cloud of smoke, which turns out to be the plane that was hijacked and crashed in W. PA. 
Dana was ready to leave her husband when he became ill with cancer but she stays with him and takes care of him until his death. At this point she grapples with her life and what to do with it. Her husband was a congressman, but she seeks out her working class roots and goes down to find one of the only places she could ever called home, her grandmother's house in Georgia, only to find it gone. She looks up an old friend, Cassius, a black man who she used to work with in the local supermarket. A romance ensues, but much more than that as well. As a matter of fact, for most of the novel Dana and Cassius are not even together.
She settles in Western Florida after meeting up with Solly, the owner of a local grocery store in a town that she learned about from Cassius. She ends up meeting all kinds of interesting and rich characters and becomes embroiled in a life so different from what she had as the wife of a Congressman.
I will not reveal any more about the book, other than to say it's powerful, entertaining and beautifully crafted. Read it! I am going after her other novels soon.