Comment

Feb 10, 2017
Humerus, with characters so real you imagine seeing them at the store. Willa and Jottie are the two main characters, and narrators. Jottie is the matriarch of the family as much as a woman was allowed to be in the 1930's. She runs the house, manages the money, and manages two of the family farms along with her younger brother. Jottie is also raising her nieces; Willa and Bird, from her brother's marriage (which ended in divorce shortly after the second child was born). Jottie will do anything for the girls, and seeks to make the family as respectable and 'first class' as it was when she was a child. Layla Beck, sent to write up the history of the town and boarding with the family, is the catalyst in this story. Her arrival in town causes Jottie to see face how a tragedy from her youth has effected the family's status, and is having an effect on how the girls are treated. Jottie older brother, Felix is not help in this, a bootlegger and the center of scandalous gossip, as well as a cad who sleeps around with every available woman, he still holds Jottie's loyalty. Willa is entering the transition between child and young lady. She knows there are things the adults aren't telling her, and won't tell her. She decided to embrace her inner sneak and not only find out what they aren't telling her, but to understand why. With Layla already stirring up old history, and catching the attention of her father, Willa has much to observe and learn. The characterization in this novel is amazing. Each character is unique, and the two narrators each have their own voice-I was never confused about who was narrating at any given time. I also loved how the characters didn't have much more information than the reader, so there wasn't the feeling of being in the same shoes as young Willa, even when adult Jottie was narrating, of feeling everyone else knows something you don't. The setting is also very well done. Each time the heat of the day is described, it is different, and while you feel how the characters are desperate for a cool breeze you don't grow bored with the descriptions of how hot it is. This would be a great beach read, or book between intense books, when you need something to warm your soul, hold your interest, and make you smile.