I am excited to share with you my first book review for the readers of The Southern Fried Bride. My first book review is a wonderful piece of Southern literature from a visionary female author. It is probably no surprise that I am a fan of Southern literature. March is "Women's History Month" and I believe in the spirit of celebrating women's history all through the year. I have the honor of living in the vicinity of Seneca Falls, New York, location of the First Women’s Rights Convention, held in 1848 (did you know this is also the model town for the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life"?) and home to the Women's Rights National Historical Park with its wealth of information on women's history.
I was so excited to receive a copy of the book "Southern Fried Women" by Pamela King Cable to review for you. I believe with a book title like that, it was surely meant to be for The Southern Fried Bride to review it!
Living in New York now, I dearly miss the "Southern breeze" that I believe comes with the geographic region of the South, blowing about the distinct hospitality and the distinct personalities that abound in this region. I believe these are among the characteristics at the heart of a Southern voice, and I believe Pamela King Cable is a delightful Southern voice. The author herself is an example of a woman following her heart, ending a medical career spanning 20 years to fulfill her dream as a full-time writer and speaker. I was delighted to find out this book is being taught as part of Southern Studies in some high school classrooms.
In "Southern Fried Women", she weaves a collection of short stories set in the South together to transport the reader to balmy, slower days of a Southern yesteryear, set in several different timeperiods. The subjects run the gamut of emotions. You'll find stories invoking everything from love, faith, innocence and forgiveness to guilt, racial conflict, tragedy and death. At the forefront of each of the stories is the theme portraying the strength of Southern women and by the time to turn the last page, you will have seen a menagerie of Southern women emerging as survivors.
Beautiful sepia-tone pictures included with the short stories and an eye-catching vintage-style book cover, add to the experience of reading this book.
The characters she gives life to through her hearty storytelling are classic Southern personalities come alive through who will resonate with many readers. The names alone invoke such a reminiscent feeling. Names such as Gideon, Thirl, Aunt Sye, Noah and of course, since this is the South we are talking about, there has to be a Reverend. You will find many of the characters' faith in God at the forefront of the stories.
I smiled with delight when I read the name of one of the communities: Needmore, North Carolina. My late Grandma Cleva grew up in the Needmore community in rural Cherokee County, Oklahoma and this name immediately invoked my memories of sitting on Granma's knee as she told me stories of her childhood growing up in the Needmore community. As I read this particular short story, I immediately began to see so many similarities between the two communities of the same name.
Each of the short stories was a wonderful literary journey, but the standout story to me personally, was "Beach Babies", which in her true writing style, invokes so many emotions within the confines of the story. The story involves Pentecostal raising and two young women with independent spirits. I began laughing heartily when reading the first paragraph of the story. During the course of the story, I was full-on crying at the beautifully written story.
I highly recommend this book as a Southern journey of the senses.
"Southern Fried Women" is also an ebook available on Amazon for Kindle, iTunes and Barnes and Noble.
In celebration of March as "Women's History Month", one of you will WIN your own copy of this wonderful book!
To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below and tell me, in celebration of "Women's History Month", a woman you admire. Entries will close on Monday, April 2 at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 4 at 8:00 am EST. Winner must contact me within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. Good luck!
FTC Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book "Southern Fried Women" for the purpose of reviewing in my honest opinion. I also was provided with a copy of the book to give away to one of my readers. All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own.
