April Showers by Anne Maisy Scott

Main Characters:

April Getman:  Came from a divorced family and hated by her wicked grandmother, Katherine.  She lived her young life in poverty and she was desperate to be accepted by her father, Bo Connolly.  Paternity was a question pondered by everyone who knew April.  She was always different in looks and personality.  Her mother, Ruby, had a wild reputation that left room for speculation for generations.  After marriage and motherhood, she grew into a few different personalities.  Alcoholism was once a factor in her life and then she found religion many, many years later.  However, she used both as a weapon to punish her family.  After her drinking days, she was sober and became the beast that alcohol once produced.  Her family claimed that she had five different personalities.  Two of her children "hated" the woman, one child kept his opinions to himself, while the other thought she was mentally ill.  There was never any professional diagnosis of such accusations to help ease the minds of her family who are so desperately seeking answers. 

Michael Getman:  Married April in 1964.  He told her on their wedding day, "I promise to make the living as long as you promise to make the living worth while."  He upheld his end of the bargain for decades.  The day did arrive when he had to leave for the sake of survival.  His four children were grown and had families of their own.  He did not have to "protect" his children from her wrath no longer.  They never filed for divorce, he just simply left.  His children and grandchildren mean the world to him.  Everyone likes Michael.  He is quick with a joke, but he doesn't handle being put on the spot.  However, this is his social handicap and his family takes great pleasure to make him the bud of a joke. 

Maddie:  April and Michael's eldest child.  Michael had to protect Maddie the most from the jealous rages from April.  Maddie was accused of being "Daddy's" favorite, which April's jealousy was no secret to the family.  At the young age of eight, she cared for her infant twin brothers while April slept.  All her efforts were never appreciated, but expected.  Maddie grew to be the rebellious teenager and later fell into her own troubles with parenthood, which was almost deja vu.  This was the only child, out of four, who was not afraid to challenge April.  Maddie struggles daily with feeling her mother's ugliness deep within herself.  She is also a heavy drinker.  Maddie has never found forgiveness within her heart for her mother.  In fact, she blames April for many unpleasant memories and holds her responsible for anything wrong that happens in her life.  The best thing in Maddie's life is being married to her soul mate, Chase.  She had two failed marriages until she found him.  Chase holds the least amount of respect for April's unpleasant nature and her creating so much strife in Maddie's life. 

Maggie Getman-Graham:  Is birth order #2.  She is the youngest daughter who took over raising the twins where Maddie left off.  April was deep into her drinking while Michael was spending many, many hours at the bank.  Maggie traded in her childhood to raise and protect her brothers.  She was the shy and timid child who always hid in Maddie's shadow.  It was painful to watch her sister on such a destructive path, but she had to do her part around the house to keep April from attacking her or the twins with her rage.  Michael always seemed to get the brunt of it all because it was his sacrifice for his family.  Maggie suffered from abuse of a different nature.  At first, Maddie and Maggie were sent to their elderly aunt's home every weekend.  It didn't take long for the girls to be separated for the weekends and Maggie was left in hell alone.  Maggie struggled throughout her adult live to be "normal."  She kept her painful secrets of her past to herself.  Her loving husband, Alec, was her confidant and best friend.  He was very supportive and patient with his wife.  He could never understand how April could neglect such a beautiful person so early in life.  He is admires his wife's courage to live her life with minimal hatred towards her mother.  Maggie is the most forgiving towards her mother.  She saw past the tyrant façade and saw a small, frightened child. 

Katherine:  She was Bo Connolly's mother, who was known as the tyrant!  She was nasty to everyone, but her precious granddaughter, Kathleen.  She is the sole person blamed for ruining April's life.  She threatened April, when she was very young, that she was going to place the child in an orphanage because that's where ugly and unwanted children belong.  Kathleen was lavished upon by the woman while April was kept in rags.  Everyone, whether inside of the family or total strangers, could see that Katherine hated April.  On Katherine's deathbed, she asked through her son, Bo, for April to visit her.  However, April took great pride in refusing her request flat.  She made an excuse to her father that the twins kept her anchored at home, which had never been the case.  Michael tried desperately to fly April out to Arizona with hopes for his wife to accept a long-overdue apology from the woman, but she wanted nothing to do with that.  He knew that closure would have been achieved if she had only taken a moment to accept Katherine's forgiveness.  Michael realized at that moment that April was no different than the grandmother she always hated.   

Kathleen:  Katherine's namesake and pride and joy.  She loved her grandmother, but Katherine didn't realize that she was unintentionally punishing Kathleen by such attention.  Like her nephew, Kenneth, she also had to suffer with the animosity between her and her sisters.  Kathleen lived with her grandparents, Katherine and Herbert, during the turbulent times of her parents' troubled marriage.  Even though this child was lavished upon by Katherine, she was spared a horrific fate her sisters had shared that she didn't find out until years later.  

Kenneth:  The eldest twin brother who April chose as the favorite.  Maddie painfully labeled him as "the good son."  He is highly respected, even with Michael.  He is the child with all the confidence in the world.  However, being the chosen favorite created animosity between him and his twin.  His sisters also found it to be quite hurtful or annoying, depending on which sister is asked.  He is birth order #3, yet he was chosen to be the executor of the will.  He is a divorced father of two little girls.  He is successful in his sales career and everything seems to come easy for him in life. 

Kobe:  He is the complete opposite of his twin brother.  He didn't seem to shine quite as brightly as Kenneth in April's eyes, so he cut his own path in life.  His morbid sense of humor is what kept him going through the years.  He was always in trouble with his parents.  He was especially a thorn in April's side, but no one could compare to Maddie.  Kobe married a woman very similar to his mother.  They share six children, which the youngest looks just like April.  He may not be the smartest of the bunch, but he has a big heart.   

Supporting Characters:

Cami:  She was the sister that remained close with April.  She quit being a parent when she walked out on her family.  She left a note that simply read, "I just can't do this anymore."  She was separated for 30 years from her husband to only be reunited after she discovered religion.  She did see her young children through April, which Cami forever felt indebted to her sister's generosity.  Her husband never fell out of love with his wife; he just stood back and gave her room to discover what she really wanted.  She struggled with her sexual orientation throughout life and she kept the company of a female companion for years.  She is the one person who introduced April to her religion. 

Ginny:  She is April's sister who lives in Atlanta.  She is very involved in her religion and speaks with a southern drawl.  The family respects her dearly for what she had endured throughout childhood.  She survived unspeakable tortures, so everyone thought.   

Paula Carr:  She was the biological aunt to April and her sisters.  She was Ruby's eldest sister who was nine years her senior.  She did not have children of her own, but she did help Ruby with the girls when money was tight.  Little or no money was the foundation to the child rearing of the four girls.  She was the one person who would stick up for April.  Paula was a tough woman and she feared nothing or no one.  She had many confrontations with Katherine.  It was no secret that the women hated one another.

Douglas Carr:  He was the family secret for three generations.  He married Paula and he enjoyed the little girls within the family.  In fact, he could never keep his hands off of them.