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Book Review of Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
nightprose avatar reviewed on + 112 more book reviews


Most teenagers want to be independent, to make their own way, and find their own place in the world. Its been that way since time began. In 1970s Georgia it was no different for Catherine Grace Cline.

Catherine Grace and her sister Martha Ann were very young when their mother died. Their father, a Baptist minister, does his best to raise the girls. However, Catherine Grace feels a lot of pressure to be good, and feels she often falls short. Being able to talk to their neighbor, Gloria Jean, who had been a friend of Catherine Graces mother,
is one thing that keeps Catherine Grace going. The other thing is hanging out at the Dairy Queen, plotting her future escape from their small town of Ringgold, Georgia.

Upon graduation, and finally turning 18, Catherine Grace takes her lifes savings, making her long anticipated escape to Atlanta. Settling into life there however, she receives news that draws her back home again. Once back home, to her own surprise, Catherine Grace finds that what she sought may have been right there at home all along. She finds that sometimes not only can you go home again, but in fact sometimes you should, because home really is where the heart is.

Susan Gregg Gilmores debut novel is a sweet treat, full of vivid small town characters with heart. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen firmly places her in good Southern fiction.