Drawing on the little-known true story of one tragic night at an Ozarks dance hall in the author’s Missouri hometown, this beautifully written, endearingly nostalgic novel picks up 50 years later for a folksy, character-driven portrayal of small-town life, split second decisions, and the ways family secrets reverberate through generations.

Daisy Flowers is fifteen in 1978 when her free-spirited mother dumps her in Possum Flats, Missouri. It’s a town that sounds like roadkill and, in Daisy’s eyes, is every bit as dead. Sentenced to spend the summer living with her grandmother, the wry and irreverent town mortician, Daisy draws the line at working for the family business, Flowers Funeral Home. Instead, she maneuvers her way into an internship at the local newspaper where, sorting through the basement archives, she learns of a mysterious tragedy from fifty years earlier…

On a sweltering, terrible night in 1928, an explosion at the local dance hall left dozens of young people dead, shocking and scarring a town that still doesn’t know how or why it happened. Listed among the victims is a name that’s surprisingly familiar to Daisy, revealing an irresistible family connection to this long-ago accident.

Obsessed with investigating the horrors and heroes of that night, Daisy soon discovers Possum Flats holds a multitude of secrets for a small town. And hardly anyone who remembers the tragedy is happy to have some teenaged hippie asking questions about it – not the fire-and-brimstone preacher who found his calling that tragic night; not the fed-up police chief; not the mayor’s widow or his mistress; not even Daisy’s own grandmother, a woman who’s never been afraid to raise eyebrows in the past, whether it’s for something she’s worn, sworn, or done for a living.

Some secrets are guarded by the living, while others are kept by the dead, but as buried truths gradually come into the light, they’ll force a reckoning at last.

CW – Violent death depicted on page, the aftermath of identifying remains is discussed – both these sections get graphic. Death of an infant. 

Dear Michelle Collins Anderson,

Lately I’ve been in the mood for historical fiction and when I saw this cover I fell in love with it. That plus a story set in 1978 (which I remember quite well, thank you very much) closed the deal. 

In 1928 most of the young people in the small town of Possum Flats, Missouri are at the upstairs dance hall late in the evening when suddenly it explodes in heat and flame. By reason and chance of where they are some are spared while others die horrible deaths. Stunned, the town rushes in to try to save the living then gather the dead. 

Almost fifty years later, young fifteen year old Daisy Flowers is dropped off at her grandmother’s house in some podunk town in Missouri after which her peripatetic mother leaves for California along with her latest lover. Daisy and Rose awkwardly work out how they’re going to live together until Lettie sends for her daughter. As Rose now runs the town’s funeral home and lives above it, Daisy is desperate to get out. When Rose takes Daisy along with her to the local paper to hand in an obituary (for the beloved town mayor who died in flagrante delicto with a woman who was not his wife), Daisy is fascinated by journalism and determined to get a job there. 

Some fast talking gets the interest of the editor who offers her a summer internship but writing obits (though she’s good at it) bores Daisy who jumps at Fence McMillan’s offer to dig through old newspapers and write a history piece. She latches onto the idea of revisiting the 1928 explosion and telling the story via interviews with survivors. Stunned at the negative reception she gets from various townspeople, Daisy nonetheless forges ahead. But when the last of her four part series has been published, old and well hidden secrets will be unearthed and lives will be changed forever. 

I loved these characters. None of them are perfect. Rather they are flawed in great and small ways that make them come alive. Daisy is intelligent and stubborn, things that Rose immediately remembers in her daughter Lettie who fought against the restrictions on females in the 1940s and finally fled town to escape. Rose is meticulous about her job and proud of the service she supplies but lived a painful life with her husband and in-laws who disliked her. Rose also still mourns her twin sister who died in 1928. 

One of the local pastors was a party boy until that night after which he devoted his life to God, something he never thought or planned to do after a horrible childhood. The stubborn sheriff has devoted his life to the town and its people. He might take an afternoon nap in the office every day but he’ll never leave a job undone. The other reporters take Daisy under their wing and try to give her good advice and photography lessons but warn her to tread lightly as despite the passage of fifty years, the town is still sensitive about its losses. Meanwhile Daisy keeps sending letters to her mother even though she’s yet to hear back from Lettie. 

I did guess a few of the secrets and who was responsible for them. Clues are given and if readers pay attention, not much will be a surprise. But the enjoyment is in watching the various characters interacting, remembering, and coming to terms with events past and present. There is an “epilogue” of sorts which shows what will happen to some characters and allows forgiveness for others which I liked but might be too sappy for some. I’m still debating some of the outcomes. This is not a light and fluffy book though parts are truly funny. I enjoyed watching Rose and Daisy, who are both strong women, as well as revisiting the late 1970s but be warned that there are graphic scenes in the book. B

~Jayne 

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Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich

Sometimes it’s the most unlikely meetings that give us life’s greatest gifts.

1970s, Southern Alabama. Sixty-two-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub,” has spent his whole life listening to those he’s loved telling him he’s no good—first his ex-wife, now his always-disapproving daughter. Sure, his escapades have made him, along with his cousin and perennial sidekick, Benny, just a smidge too familiar with small town law enforcement, but he’s never harmed anyone—except perhaps himself.

Nub never meant to change his ways, but when he and fifteen-year-old Waffle House waitress Minnie form an unlikely friendship, he realizes for the first time that there may be some good in him after all. Six-foot-five Minnie has been dealt a full deck of bad luck—her father is a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, her mother is dead and buried, and she has a Grand Ole Opry–worthy singing voice with no place to perform. Oh, and there’s the small fact that she’s unexpectedly pregnant, courtesy of a no-good high-school boy.

Gradually, Nub realizes the gift he’s been given: a second chance to make a difference.

Beloved Southern writer Sean Dietrich, also known as Sean of the South, once again brings people and places to life in this lyrical song-turned-story about found family, second chances, country music, and the poignant power of love and forgiveness.

My Review

Somehow all of the plot threads come together in the end. It’s wild but what else should I have expected from this book? As I mentioned earlier, I laughed my ass off at times and blinked back a tear at others. Some things cut close while many, many others brought me good memories as I know the South and I lived through 1972. Boomers and Gen Xers will know a lot of these things first hand. The book has sass, heart, and people triumphing over the odds against them. It will not be for everyone but I inhaled the 400 pages in two days and loved it. It will break your heart and then put it back together. A-

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Mrs. Porter Calling by A. J. Pearce

London, April 1943. A little over a year since she married Captain Charles Mayhew and he went away to war, Emmy Lake is now in charge of “Yours Cheerfully,” the hugely popular advice column in Woman’s Friend magazine. Cheered on by her best friend Bunty, Emmy is dedicated to helping readers face the increasing challenges brought about by over three years of war. The postbags are full and Woman’s Friend is thriving.

But Emmy’s world is turned upside down when glamorous socialite, the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter, becomes the new publisher of the magazine, and wants to change everything the readers love. Aided by Mrs. Pye, a Paris-obsessed fashion editor with delusions of grandeur, and Small Winston, the grumpiest dog in London, Mrs. Porter fills the pages with expensive clothes and frivolous articles about her friends. Worst of all, she announces that she is cutting the “Yours Cheerfully” column and her vision for the publication’s future seems dire. With the stakes higher than ever, Emmy and her friends must find a way to save the magazine that they love.

My Review

We’ve been through ups and downs with Emmy, Bunty, and the staff at the newspaper Woman’s Friend. Emmy’s oft repeated thought, “You are safe and you are loved” got me through. I need the next book in my hands now. A

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Ghost 19 by Simone St. James

Is there something wrong with Ginette Cox? It’s what everyone seems to think. When a doctor suggests that what she might need is less excitement, she packs up and moves from New York City to a house in suburban NY: 19 Howard Ave.

The town offers Ginette little in the way of entertainment in 1959, but at least she has interesting neighbors. Whether it’s the little girl with her doll or the couple and their mother-in-law, Ginette watches them from her window and makes up names and stories for them.

But it’s not all peaceful in suburbia. Ginette finds it hard to sleep in her new house. There are strange and scary noises coming from the basement, and she is trapped, either by a ghost or her own madness.

But when Ginette starts to think a murder has taken place and a mysterious man starts making terrifying appearances outside her window, it’s clear she must deal with whatever isn’t allowing her to escape this house…

My Review

This one does take its time getting started – and doesn’t hesitate to make Gin a bit unlikeable and give her some affectations – but then I was literally holding my breath and my fingers were flying as I raced through the last part of the story. What had happened?! Who was wailing from the basement? What did sweetheart Andrew see when he scoped out the house across the lane that he and Ginette were watching? Where did Mother-in-Law go? Who was the man in black who stood in front of Ginette’s window? Was Detective Ian Challis married or not? And how was Ginette going to finally get away. That is if she got away. A-

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Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo

The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.

Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass–and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.

But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate. . .

My Review

I started and finished this novella in one day. As soon as I ended it I thought, I’m not quite sure what that all was but it was brilliant. My book notes state “A story of Singing Hills, young novices, justice, and the way life changes.” Chih has returned thinking that everything will be the same. Many things are, which is comforting, but not everything. New realities must be navigated and accepted. Life is change, after all. In the end, a new normal is coming into being while a pathway to maintaining good relations with those who command massive mammoths is found. Justice will be done and a grieving neixin will find some peace. A

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Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

My Review

Oh, what a lovely story. I can easily see how this flowed (pun intended) into being. The heroine is delightful and just the kind of self-effacing person who I enjoy watching save the day. And Toadling saves so many, most of whom have/had no idea of what she did. I wasn’t quite sure how things would end up. I pondered this as I read to the end and realized that I would have been happy either way Toadling decided to do things. But I think she made the right choice. This is the sort of story I want to flip back to the beginning and start reading again the minute I finish it. And I agree. It is sweet, dammit. A 

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Everything’s Coming Up Beatrix by Georgia Dunn

Stop the presses: The news crew at BCN is back for more adventures and laughs!

Join Elvis, Puck, Lupin, Tommy, Beatrix, and the whole team for spooky tales around the space heater, daring hairstyles, not-so-hilarious sweaters, an Easter egg hunt disaster, new cat foods, “Heck on the Deck!”, something called a papasan, and the first ever celebration of St. Catty’s Day! Tune into a ghostly broadcast when Puck makes a harrowing journey to the attic and gets in over his head. . . . Can Elvis and Tabitha work together to save him?

Learn how to make your own bookmark, your own little book, and a reading fort!

My Review

I fell in love with the news crew of Breaking Cat News years ago, read it everyday online, and eagerly await my pre-ordered paperback copies of the books. Georgia Dunn perfectly captures so much of the behavior that cat servants know – both what we love and what we don’t (hairballs, anyone?). One of the delightful newer characters added over the years is young cub reporter Beatrix. With her polydactyl paws, she easily manages the station’s social media accounts while her outgoing, yet also thoughtful, personality charms all. A

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Madeline Finn and the Blessing of the Animals by Lisa Papp

When Madeline Finn attends the Blessing of the Animals with Bonnie and Star, she learns that everyone has a gift inside, which they can share with the world. And one way that Madeline Finn can share her blessing is with the animals at her local shelter.

It’s a special day! Madeline Finn is taking Bonnie and Star to the Blessing of the Animals. When they arrive, they see dogs and cats. There’s even a goat!

Madeline Finn watches closely as the Reverend Mary Alice spends time with every animal, giving each one their very own blessing.

“How do you know what to say?” Madeline Finn wants to know.

“Everyone has a blessing inside,” Miss Mary explains. “A special gift to share with the world.”

When Madeline Finn receives a blessing all her own, she has a new mission: finding the blessings in others. Surely, the furry and feathery residents at her local animal shelter have lots of special gifts to share. They just need someone to believe in them—someone to set those blessings free.

My Review

Yes, I had to stop numerous times to wipe my eyes. Yes, I was crying. But they’re happy tears and hopeful tears for the animals Madeline blesses with things that might help the animals find homes. The illustrations are lovely and the message is heartfelt. We’re all special and have something to offer. A

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The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair

Murder once again stalks the proprietors of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in the surprisingly dangerous landscape of post-WWII London.
In the immediate post-war days of London, two unlikely partners have undertaken an even more unlikely, if necessary, business venture – The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. The two partners are Miss Iris Sparks, a woman with a dangerous – and never discussed – past in British intelligence and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, a war widow with a young son entangled in a complicated aristocratic family. Mostly their clients are people trying to start (or restart) their lives in this much-changed world, but their new client is something different. A happily married woman has come to them to find a new wife for her husband. Dying of cancer, she wants the two to make sure her entomologist, academic husband finds someone new once she passes.

Shortly thereafter, she’s found dead in Epping Forest, in what appears to be a suicide. But that doesn’t make sense to either Sparks or Bainbridge. At the same time, Bainbridge is attempting to regain legal control of her life, opposed by the conservator who has been managing her assets – perhaps not always in her best interest. When that conservator is found dead, Bainbridge herself is one of the prime suspects. Attempting to make sense of two deaths at once, to protect themselves and their clients, the redoubtable owners of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau are once again on the case.

My Review

I finished the book reading flat out and punching the air at the way Gwen and Iris handle one suspected criminal confession and how Gwen’s knowledge of single malts helps her in another. The final scenes of dealing with grief almost had me tearing up – okay, okay yes I was tearing up – but one character has had this coming and desperately needed it while another has only just begun to confront his loss – the depth of which we realize from a conversation Iris has with a former Army commando. I was wrung out and satisfied at the same time and I can’t wait to see what happens next. A

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The Country Gentleman by Dinah Dean

When he’s mistaken for her husband-to-be, is that prophetic?

Miss Lucinda Calvert’s quiet life as a rector’s daughter is turned topsy-turvy by the arrival of a gentleman new to the area. Mr John Harris seems respectable, but sets the village gossips wagging with speculation about his past—on which topic he is very private indeed.

He pays her particular attention, and his mysterious papers and odd habits confuse her almost as much as his unexpected kiss! Then speculation of a French spy in their midst, taking advantage of the nearby military encampment, sets Lucinda worrying. Could the man she has grown so fond of—perhaps even loves—be a traitor?

My Review

Lucinda finds herself starting to fall for him, and Fred certainly approves of him – though Fred has never approved of Lucinda’s other male friend Monsieur Roland, the poor French emigree who fled France because of the Revolution – and Lucinda’s father has always said that Fred is an excellent judge of character though Lucinda’s mother sniffs at that saying “(Mr. Harris) must be a paragon if the cat likes him!” A-

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Worth More than Rubies by Grace Burrowes

All the Duke of Dunfallon wants this holiday season is a respite from the machinations of the matchmakers. When pursued by a particularly determined would-be duchess, he ducks into the West Bartholomew Street Lending Library. Librarian Emerald Armstrong sees a dapper gent in a bit of a hurry and mistakes Dunfallon for a curate overdue for his assignation with West Bart’s theological collection.

Dunfallon is intrigued by Emmie’s love of books, her disdain for society’s games, and her ferocious generosity of spirit toward all of the library’s patrons. She has no patience with posturing, and thus he takes the risk of admitting his true identity. To his surprise, Emmie doesn’t mind all that much that he’s a duke—some things cannot be helped—but she is far less willing to keep silent about Dunfallon’s other secret, the one he has been guarding from even his fellow peers.

If an honorable woman is worth more than rubies, what will a duke sacrifice to earn her love?

My Review

What a delight. Another book loving couple and more cats! And what a silly widgeon I’ve been to not have been reading your books up until now. I wondered when Emmie would learn the truth behind Dane’s identity, thinking this would probably lead to the proverbial Third Act breakup only to discover the story would unfold quite differently. Huzzah for something unusual and some quality intimacy that even includes heaving bosoms. This was lovely. A-

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To fall for Charles is the last thing Helen expected … but will her lies cost her the love of her life?

England, 1970s

When Helen Debenham agrees to help her friend Sylvia out of her unhappy marriage to the famous playwright Charles Lane, the last thing she expects is to find love waiting in the wings.

Conditioned from childhood to look after her needy friend, Helen doesn’t question Sylvia’s portrayal of Charles as a cruel, temperamental philanderer. But as she comes to know the real Charles much better than she had ever intended, suddenly her feelings are rewriting the script for her.

Astonished to find Charles a very different character from the one Sylvia has depicted, she quickly comes to regret the part she’s agreed to play in their separation. Especially when she realises she’s falling in love with him … and he still has no idea how she’s deceived him…

But does she know Charles as well as she thinks? And how will he react if her deception is uncovered?

Can Helen keep playing her role for ever, or is heartbreak waiting around the corner?

Set in London and the English countryside, YET LOVE REMAINS is a compelling 20th century tale of romance and deceit with an intriguing twist.

Review

Oh, the angst. Oh, the melodrama. Oh, how the plot dates this one. Let’s go back in time to when divorce was a bit unsavory though obtainable especially if one is a (terribly) needy and surface level woman who has a best friend who feels somewhat responsible for you because you’re just that delicate flower who needs tending to. Too late friend Helen realizes that Sylvia has everything neatly planned and is ruthless about them sticking to that plan. 

But wait, shall we talk plot a bit? Helen Debenham and Sylvia have been friends since school. When Helen is orphaned, Sylvia’s mother (does anyone else hear Dr. Hook singing that 1972 song?) takes Helen under her wing and ends up paying the tuition for Helen’s nursing course. After Helen leaves for America for a job in Washington, Sylvia’s mother writes and asks Helen to be there for Sylvia because Sylvia is just the type to get herself into messes and need help. 

Job finished, Helen meets a tall, dark, and handsome mystery man on the boat trip back but parts ways thinking never to see him again. Catching up with her friend, Helen discovers that Sylvia’s marriage is on the rocks (well, Helen was skeptical even when Sylvia was rhapsodizing about it) and that because (cruel) Charles Lane refuses her little teensy weensy request to divorce so Sylvia can marry (milquetoast) Richard, Sylvia needs Helen to take part in a theatrical production Sylvia has devised called “Be a Co-respondent.” All Helen has to do is show up at Charles’s remote cottage on the moors, stay the night, and be there en deshabille for Sylvia plus her barrister uncle to find in the morning. 

To her credit Helen has her doubts and reservations but Sylvia paints Charles with a dark brush and swears that he’s been unfaithful to her. Really? asks Helen. Yep, you betcha. I’m pretty sure, says Sylvia. 

I think we can all guess who Charles turns out to be but hip-deep in it already, Helen continues with the charade even though Charles is nothing but kindness and solicitude for this woman who shows up, at night, in the pouring rain at his doorstep.  Hmmm, as she gets to know him, Helen thinks that maybe Charles isn’t as bad as Sylvia makes out.  Too late now and the divorce goes through but poor Helen is in the soup because of it then won’t ask for help. Wait, it turns out Charles has fallen in love with Helen enough to confess his sad childhood and the reason he wouldn’t initially give Sylvia the divorce. Could this mean Helen has found her true love? But what will happen when the truth, as it inevitably does and at the worst time, comes out?

Overall, I liked this one but it is dated (first published in 1938 and redone a bit in the mid 70s) and does have its problems. Sylvia is a huge one but by the end somehow I think Helen has shed the need to take care of poor widdle Syliva. Sylvia is that kind of needy woman in distress who can hook men into dropping everything to hike ten miles through a snowstorm to the store because she’s out of milk for her coffee. I used to work with a woman like that and even though I knew what she was (probably unconsciously) doing, I still had to restrain myself from volunteering to help her, so I know Sylvias exist.

Helen is a much better friend but let’s be honest and admit that Helen, despite her second thoughts and third thoughts and feelings that she should have done more investigation before agreeing, goes through with Sylvia’s plan. When she learns more about how badly Charles was treated by his parents (really, it lays out exactly how badly he’s going to be hurt by Helen’s actions), Helen feels even worse but, she desperately tries to tell herself, Charles need never know. Yeah, right. 

Charles’s stark pain at this betrayal is obvious to Helen but he goes through part of the farce of their honeymoon (not to Italy though as that is a place for love) then plans to send Helen away with an allowance that will let her live comfortably. Through most of the book, Charles is truly a nice guy under it all. To her credit Helen realizes that if she gives up now, their marriage can never be saved so she gamely sticks to him like a happy homemaker barnacle. She also becomes fiercely defensive of Charles when Sylvia breezes through town.

The way things work out takes them through their own private purgatory with loads of angst and heartache which would probably have been viewed as necessary atonement in 1938. Today I think this would be viewed as a Harlequin Presents. I’ll give Burchell credit for not making any of the characters perfect – they all do something reprehensible.  It’s obvious to them, and the reader, that they still love each other but Charles needs to dish out a side of comeuppance to Helen before he realizes what he’s doing and reverses course, and Helen tries her best, through her feelings of guilt, to roll with it. Readers looking for Helen to stand up and kick ass to get his attention and love back will be disappointed. But in the end, both of them prove to the other that “yet love remains.” Burchell’s writing ability saves this one. B-      

 ~Jayne         

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Sometimes it’s the most unlikely meetings that give us life’s greatest gifts.

1970s, Southern Alabama. Sixty-two-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub,” has spent his whole life listening to those he’s loved telling him he’s no good—first his ex-wife, now his always-disapproving daughter. Sure, his escapades have made him, along with his cousin and perennial sidekick, Benny, just a smidge too familiar with small town law enforcement, but he’s never harmed anyone—except perhaps himself.

Nub never meant to change his ways, but when he and fifteen-year-old Waffle House waitress Minnie form an unlikely friendship, he realizes for the first time that there may be some good in him after all. Six-foot-five Minnie has been dealt a full deck of bad luck—her father is a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, her mother is dead and buried, and she has a Grand Ole Opry–worthy singing voice with no place to perform. Oh, and there’s the small fact that she’s unexpectedly pregnant, courtesy of a no-good high-school boy.

Gradually, Nub realizes the gift he’s been given: a second chance to make a difference.

Beloved Southern writer Sean Dietrich, also known as Sean of the South, once again brings people and places to life in this lyrical song-turned-story about found family, second chances, country music, and the poignant power of love and forgiveness.

CW/TW – suicide, alcoholism, cancer, teen pregnancy, bullying

In Alabama, “Drive safe” is code for “I love you.” There are different versions of this phrase, of course. But the words all mean the same thing. They all carry the same spirit. In central Alabama, one variation of this phrase is, “Be careful, the cops are out tonight.” In northern regions of the state, people say, “Y’all be safe going home.” Others might say, “Watch out for deer.” 
Either way, the specific words are inconsequential; they all convey the same meaning: You matter to me. You’re important to me. Keep your high beams on. Keep both hands on the wheel. Deer are homicidal. Eavesdrop at any Alabamian get-together, from women’s Bible studies to Veterans of Foreign Wars halls, from Boy Scout rallies to bunco games, and at the end of the night, you won’t hear I-love-yous uttered. Not even among families. You will, however, hear the “drive safe” invocation used about fifty or sixty times.

Dear Mr. Dietrich,

This book is a country and western song in the making. Most of the plot can probably already be found in various country and western songs. Well maybe not the C-4 but most of the rest. Love, drinking, regret, heartache, exes, anger, love, regret, drinking, singing, family, lost love, drinking, second chances, regret, drinking, family, prison, parole, drinking, love, and second chances. Yep, that about covers it. When I read the blurb I crossed my fingers and asked to read it, hoping it would be similar – in a 1970s way – to “The Big Finish” which also centers around an older man, his friend, and a young woman needing a helping hand. To my delight, it is.
    
If you are a Southerner, you will probably know, be related to or have someone like one of these people in your life. Said person has probably Been Discussed at family gatherings with a smile, a sigh, and/or some heavy eye rolling. “Lord, what is soandso up to now??” You might even be one of these characters. If you are not a Southerner, you will probably be horrified at these people. You might sneer, curl a lip in disgust, sniff disparagingly, and thank whatever power you believe in that you are not from here or related to anyone like them thankyouverymuch. 

I am a Southerner – born and bred – and while this is not quite a homecoming for me, I’ve lived in and been around small Southern towns, had extended family around me, been to services in small, rural churches, and my daddy was an alcoholic. He wasn’t as publicly bad as Nub but dad and I, in many ways, were like Nub and his daughter Emily. There were wounds, there were scars, there were regrets. 

Though the book is laced with wry, deadpan humor – and I laughed Out Loud a whole bunch of times – there are some painful things as well. The book starts off with a load of them including a two suicides and a drunken rampage by Nub as he attempts to escape the long arm of the law. It doesn’t go well for him but frankly, he lives in a small town, works for the county government, and everyone knows where he lives so it wasn’t like he was going to evade anything. Sigh … sometimes the liquor drives Nub to do things he shouldn’t. 

Nub knows he’s been a disappointment to his friends and family. But, in his defense, he has an Incident from his youth which was followed by a year in a youth asylum (because his mama couldn’t cope with the first Incident) that would leave lifelong wounds on most people much less an eleven year old boy. Nub knows he shouldn’t have done a lot that he’s done – heck the whole town knows it – but alcohol is a powerful mistress and Nub doesn’t seem to have an off-switch once he starts. 

Minnie and Nub first meet in the hospital. It’s a small town with a small hospital so I didn’t bat an eye that an older man and teen girl would be recovering in the same room. Later when Nub sees Minnie being bullied by a teen snot – heck the whole town knows Philip is a little pissant – and his minions it lights a fire in Nub. He might have messed up being there for his own daughter but he’s going to help Minnie even if that requires filling out “thirty miles of documents” and attending a parenting class so he can foster this young teen who has no one. Everyone – including his daughter (who is a little jealous) and his ex – tells him he’s insane but Nub is a man on a mission.  

Minnie is a sweet teen who has always been teased because of her height and who believed a pissant when he said he would love her if she just agreed to sex. Now she’s pregnant, an orphan and due to Nub’s sense of mission, finally in a home where she can relax, take hot showers, and wear clothes that fit and aren’t falling apart. She can’t believe her luck. Nub’s cat Wyatt likes her, too.  

What no one knows is that Minnie’s father isn’t dead and is out on parole. Right, the man who worked for organized crime, ripped them off, and then accidentally killed a man leading to fifteen years in the slammer where his height and size made him a target. The men dressed all in black and driving a white caddy who follow Sugar make no attempt to evade Shug’s notice. That’s part of the intimidation. They also begin harassing Minnie – and by extension Nub – to mess with Shug and get their money back. But no one is messing with his daughter and if he has to camp out in the woods near Nub’s house and keep watch – and also get his hands on some C-4, as Shug was a demolition man in the Army – he will. 

The myth of absent fathers is that they are careless and selfish. But sometimes the opposite is also true. Sometimes absent fathers care too much. Sometimes they’re drunks. And sometimes drunks know they’re drunks. Sometimes, contrary to what you’ve been told, drunks don’t want to screw up your life. So they stay away.

Emily Ives initially thinks her father is nuts to take on a foster teen. Emily is also a bit pissed that, through Minnie, Nub appears to want to make up for all he missed in Emily’s life. Emily is also hiding a secret that she discovered after dealing with yet another Thanksgiving from hell. Yet as she watches her father actually seem to reform himself – except for the smoking as you can only give up so much at a time as AA knows – Emily does what Southern women do, she brings food and tries to help including a wild ride to the hospital with a teen in labor in the backseat of her car. 

Somehow all of the plot threads come together in the end. It’s wild but what else should I have expected from this book? As I mentioned earlier, I laughed my ass off at times and blinked back a tear at others. Some things cut close while many, many others brought me good memories as I know the South and I lived through 1972. Boomers and Gen Xers will know a lot of these things first hand. The book has sass, heart, and people triumphing over the odds against them. It will not be for everyone but I inhaled the 400 pages in two days and loved it. It will break your heart and then put it back together. A-         

~Jayne 
   

Because Minnie had come to believe that life was not about finding miracles, or happiness, or success, or purpose, or about avoiding disappointment. It was about finding people. People are what make life worth it. People are the buried treasure. People who understand you. People who will bleed with you. People who make your life richer. Your people. Your kinfolk.

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