Publisher/ Format: Harper Paperbacks (2000) 288 pages
also Audio: Books on Tape Inc. approx 9 hrs.
Narrator: Karen White
Subject: new widow's woes
Setting: small southern town in North Carolina
Series: Miss Julia
Genre: southern fiction
Source: public library
Rating: 3.8 of 5
Recommended? yes for lover's of the genre
The first in the series....I've read several, but wanted to come see how they all started. Sometimes I'm disappointed by early books in a series when I've read some of the later ones, but this one was well written and definitely sets up the characters and their motivations from the follow ons.
Miss Julia is actually Mrs. Wesley Lloyd Springer, recently widowed, filthy rich, and with the subtle encouragement of her family friend and lawyer Sam Murdoch, and faithful family retainer Lillian, she is gradually emerging from the shell of fragile Southern womanhood in which she was dominated by her husband during their 44 years of marriage, and beginning to think for herself.
In this delightful kick-off to the series, she is confronted by her husband's heretofore unknown infidelity in the person of Wesley Lloyd Springer II (called "Junior" by his less than socially acceptable mother) at the same time she is obliged to fend off a greedy, grasping, duplicitous pastor who wants to have her declared incompetent so he can become her "guardian" and manage her money (and who really wants to put up a new building for the church).
There is a cast of not quite stereotypical southern crazies and a plot that moves right along. I was pleased to see how it all began and will definitely continue reading several more of the series whenever I want a "southern veranda" iced tea break. These are not scholarly tomes, but there is enough good writing to make them an entertaining read and leave you feeling that you haven't wasted your time.
Posts
I have started this story and got into the story straight away, but it got put to one side.
ReplyDeleteI must pick it up again as it was a good read so far.
carol
Southern fiction with quirky characters - perfect for a steamy summer day when you don't want to think too hard. So why am I reading nonfiction, and heavy nonfiction at that? Go figure.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed pretty much all of the Miss Julia books, they are cute and well done.
ReplyDeleteI think the first ones were the best. The last one I read (can't remember the title but it is fairly recent) was a disappointment.
ReplyDelete