Helpful Score: 2
This novel takes place in Shakerag, Mississippi during the 1950s. Betty Jewel, once a popular black jazz singer, is now is a single woman raising her young daughter Billie. They live with the very colourful Queen, Betty's mother.
Dying of cancer, Betty decides she needs to make arrangements for Billie's future. She places an ad in the local newspaper seeking someone to raise her daughter. Billie, a very precocious little girl, discovers her mother is sick and dying. On her own mission, she sets out to find her father.
Drawn to the unique newspaper ad is Cassie, a widow who works at the paper. She knows there is much more to this than meets the eye. A deep bond forms between this white woman and this special family of black women, even as racial tension is growing. As their friendship grows they are changed forever, finding that family can be about more than blood.
This novel draws you in from the very beginning. It holds you to each page, moving you easily along. The life lessons in this special story will make you laugh and cry.
Dying of cancer, Betty decides she needs to make arrangements for Billie's future. She places an ad in the local newspaper seeking someone to raise her daughter. Billie, a very precocious little girl, discovers her mother is sick and dying. On her own mission, she sets out to find her father.
Drawn to the unique newspaper ad is Cassie, a widow who works at the paper. She knows there is much more to this than meets the eye. A deep bond forms between this white woman and this special family of black women, even as racial tension is growing. As their friendship grows they are changed forever, finding that family can be about more than blood.
This novel draws you in from the very beginning. It holds you to each page, moving you easily along. The life lessons in this special story will make you laugh and cry.
