I need to give you some backstory for my review first- My friends and I practially breathe our good Southern novels. When hubby and I got married, we went to Savannah and Charleston. Of COURSE, we had to hit the highlights from Midnight in the Garden of Evil and traced the paths of our ancestors from different family books in Charleston. One of my best friends lives in Natchitoches, home to Steel Magnolias- she really lives the book! LOL
So when I realized this book was set in Savannah, I knew it was going to be like going back to our honeymoon.....AND it was! I was enchanted to read about locales we had walked and I was familiar with- it gave the book a foundation that made it that much more endearing to me!
Synopsis: This book is Hoffman's debut novel! Cecelia Rose (CeeCee) Honeycutt tells the story of her tragic life and the strong women who stepped in to save her. At age 12, CeeCee realizes her former Vidalia Onion Queen (1958) mother, flouncing around Willoughby, OH, in prom dresses and matching shoes, is crazy and the town's laughingstock. Her father is never home, and nothing is going to change so CeeCee buries herself in books as an escape. But her true liberation comes after her mother's tragic death when great-aunt Tootie sweeps CeeCee off to Savannah. There, a group of powerful, independent women offer the young girl love, laughter and a new chance at life. Whisked off to a life of privilege in Savannah, Ga., Cecelia makes fast friends with Tootie's cook, Oletta, and gets to know the cadre of eccentric women who flit in and out of Tootie's house, among them racist town gossip Violene Hobbs and worldly, duplicitous Thelma Rae Goodpepper. Aunt Tootie herself is the epitome of goodness, and Oletta is a sage black woman. Each character also helps paint a detailed picture of the dichotomy between the 'old South' with its decaying gentry, and the changing South, where black and white are more than servant/mistress and white gloves are being exchanged for jeans and flip-flops.
This book was the epitome of STRONG Southern women, in the era before Steel Magnolias. You can almost see where they could blend together and where Cee Cee becomes one of the older women in Steel Magnolias, due to the strong women in her life raising her. The book cries for a sequel and I hope Mrs. Hoffman gives us one soon! I SO hated to leave the story when it ended! There were a few things that didn't seemed to get properly answered/resolved and I can see where they could come back in a sequel and tie the two books together! I really really really (yes I mean that!) can't recommend this book enough- it is SO good- even if you are a Yankee, you'll LOVE this book! This is THE gift book of the year!
Bio: Beth Hoffman was the president and owner of a major interior design studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, before a near-death experience turned her to writing full time. She lives with her husband and two cats in a quaint historic district in Newport, Kentucky.
She'll be on a book tour in the following cities in the next couple of months- go check her out!
March 19 Cincinatti, Oh Mercantile Library
April 1 Southern Pines, NC The Country Bookshop
April 2 Forrest City, NC Fireside Books & Gifts
May 7 Cincinatti, OH 9th Annual Books & Brunch