SOMETIMES YOU DON'T
GET EVERYTHING YOU WANT....
SOMETIMES YOU GET LAVENDER.

This is the theme of the book Jeannie Ralston, Hill Country Lavender's co-founder, has written. Called The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming, the book is the true story of a magazine writer who after a stimulating former life in Manhattan and Austin moves to the pastoral expanses of the Texas Hill Country with her husband and discovers the joys and rewards of taking a chance on a new way of life.

Jeannie, a writer and editor, once had a flourishing career in New York, but meeting the love of her life, a photographer named Robb, would change all that. Robb longed to settle down in the country. Jeannie was loathe to leave her urban lifestyle, until they struck a bargain: She'd move to rural Texas if Robb would agree to start their family.

The Unlikely Lavender Queen is Jeannie’s memoir of her life as an urban settler in rural Texas. She chronicles the experience of converting a dilapidated barn into a livable home; records with wit and bemusement her nostalgia for everything from lattes to The New York Times; lays bare her loneliness during Robb’s frequent National Geographic photo assignments, and raises doubts that plague so many women of her generation--had she given up too much?

When Robb returns from a trip to Provence with a plan for starting a lavender farm on their land, Jeannie, mother of two, is skeptical. But much to her surprise, in the course of managing the farm she discovers a new side of herself. By selling blooms to local florists, opening the farm to the public and developing 62 lavender-related products, Jeannie turns Hill Country Lavender into a thriving enterprise–and her life into an unexpected adventure, which all of you lavender customers have been part of!

BOOK RELEASE DATE: Now available.

Jeannie's book has been published by Doubleday Broadway Books just in time for lavender season at Hill Country Lavender. There are many events planned here at our farm and across Texas to celebrate this wonderful book. Please see schedule below.

Also, you can now order copies of the book right now from us. All books sold here will be signed. Can Amazon guarantee you that?

For more information on the book,
including the first chapter,
please visit: www.jeannieralston.com

The Unlikely Lavender Queen by Jeannie Ralston
Retail: $23.95