As the country is still reeling from the Great Depression, Layla finds herself ousted from her privileged life because she refused to marry the man chosen for her by her father. As punishment, she’s banished to an assignment through the Writers’ Project to research and write the history of the tiny town of Macedonia,Virginia. Not believing she will survive in such a backward town, she quickly finds herself living among and becoming entrenched with the family that is at the center of probably the most significant and tragic segment of Macedonia’s history.
This book is written by the author of one of my all time favorite books, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. In that former book, the characters jump off the pages and into your heart. The characters here are not quite as striking, but they are certainly vivid and endearing. The author also utilizes a change in voices to tell the story, sometimes from the perspective of Jottie, Layla’s landlord and head of the household and sometimes from the perspective of Willa, Jottie’s niece whom she’s raised. The varying perspectives round out the story to give it a great, 3-dimensional feel.
There is a bit of suspense, there is a bit of romance, but there is mostly just the telling of an emotional story about colorful characters about whom you can’t help caring.
An absorbing read, worth every word!
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