Mississippi, Summer, 1964.
Paige Dunn, a beautiful, intelligent and artistic woman, lives in a small depilated house with her 14 year old daughter, Diana. Both are trying to live a somewhat normal life even though Paige is paralyzed from the neck down after contracting Polio while pregnant with Diana. Paige has a devoted African American caregiver woman named Piecie who comes daily to help keep Paige alive and comfortable with a small bit of dignity, but much of the caregiving falls to Diana as the money they receive for her Paige's disability doesn't cover all of their expenses.
The characters and the relationships between them all is what struck me most in this book. These three women who all care for each other deeply, while also still disagreeing often, but mainly the devotion of Paige for Diana and the loving care of Piecie for Paige. Along with other townspeople and friends, there are many interesting relationships that include Diana and her best friend who like to write and perform plays for the community, Piecie and her husband who is drawn to the fight for civil rights, Paige and her many male admirers, even Elvis makes an appearance in this lovely novel.
When the civil rights movement begins to spread in their town and a nosey social worker causes chaos in their lives, everything will change and they will all need to pull together to help one another.
This was my first novel from this author, but won't be the last. The interesting thing about this novel is that the author was approached by a woman who told her about a family member who had contracted polio while pregnant and gave birth in an iron lung and while pressured to give her baby up for adoption due to her paralysis, she was determined to keep her daughter and try to live as normal a life as possible. So while there many changes and the story was fictionalized, it is really inspiring to note that it was based on an actual true story.
I found this to be a charming, warm novel that I certainly recommend.
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