Helpful Score: 1
Three generations of Southern women, find strength in each other during a time when most women depended on men (WW2).They are unconventional to say the least. I enjoyed it very much.
Helpful Score: 1
A great book about modern day "little women" of North Carolina. It's a book about the strength of women and bonding during war times.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm not a lover of fiction but this is a sweet, sweet story.
From Publishers Weekly
Three women find solace in an eccentric household in Raleigh, N.C., in Gibbons's touching fourth novel.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Like its predecessors, Ellen Foster ( LJ 4/15/87), A Virtuous Woman ( LJ 4/1/89), and A Cure for Dreams ( LJ 2/15/91), this new novel depicts three generations of Southern women living together during World War II. Unworthy men marry into this formidable tribe, but they cannot break the women's circle of strength and grace. Margaret, the narrator, gently and humorously regales readers with the adventures of her grandmother, Charlie Kate, as a respectable yet unlicensed physician. Without losing her rural sensibility, Gibbons moves from her previous country settings to Raleigh, the capital of her native North Carolina. Her characters remain quirky without being quaint. Recommended for most libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/92.
- Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Publishers Weekly
Three women find solace in an eccentric household in Raleigh, N.C., in Gibbons's touching fourth novel.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Like its predecessors, Ellen Foster ( LJ 4/15/87), A Virtuous Woman ( LJ 4/1/89), and A Cure for Dreams ( LJ 2/15/91), this new novel depicts three generations of Southern women living together during World War II. Unworthy men marry into this formidable tribe, but they cannot break the women's circle of strength and grace. Margaret, the narrator, gently and humorously regales readers with the adventures of her grandmother, Charlie Kate, as a respectable yet unlicensed physician. Without losing her rural sensibility, Gibbons moves from her previous country settings to Raleigh, the capital of her native North Carolina. Her characters remain quirky without being quaint. Recommended for most libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/92.
- Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Helpful Score: 1
Gibbons fast became one of my favorite southern writers. This is a story about a midwife's daughter who accompanies her mother on many of calls and learns from her. A great coming of age story.
Very interesting characters. The writer's style is a bit quirky. You realize on the first page that this will be a unique reading experience.
This was such a great read, I started it and finished it in one evening. I thought, as I was about halfway through the book that I recalled watching a movie similar to the book, and I was correct. The movie Charms for the Easy Life is excellent, however it skips most of the background information set forth in the beginning of the book - how Charlie Kate got started, Margaret's mothers marraige, and Margaret's childhood.
This is my favorite book--I think this is the fifth time I've read it and I love it more every time. Each character has the depth of an ocean. It's the stuff you'll daydream about.
