Publishers Weekly
★ 11/25/2019
Everhart’s rousing fourth novel (after The Giving Kind) follows 16-year-old Jessie Sasser’s struggle to reckon with her family’s moonshining in 1960s North Carolina. Jessie blames her father, Easton, for her mother’s death in a distilling accident, which she vividly remembers witnessing when she was four, but Easton refuses to discuss it. Jessie’s sense of inferiority at school and around town pits her against Easton and her younger brother, Merritt, both of whom are proud of their outlaw identity. Her isolation and anger drive her into bulimia, while her sole friendship, with a classmate named Aubrey, turns sour after Aubrey takes a shine to Willie Murry, whose unscrupulous family runs a rival distillery. After Jessie confides to Aubrey about her plan to destroy her family’s operation, Aubrey warns Willie that his own family will receive the blame. Aubrey’s betrayal unleashes a chain of events that pushes Jessie into trying her hand at the stills. Everhart movingly explores Jessie’s struggle with her eating disorder, viscerally describing her twin desires for nourishment and purging in relation to a deep need to define herself: “It happened when there came this need to fill what was barren, satisfy a void that belonged not to regular hunger, but to something else.” Everhart’s story of self-discovery, rife with colorful characters and a satisfying twist, will thrill readers. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF DONNA EVERHART
THE FORGIVING KIND
“Reminiscent of the novels of Lee Smith, Kaye Gibbons, and Sandra Dallas, Everhart builds a firm sense of place, portraying the tiredness and hope of a dry southern summer and voicing strong southern women.”
—Booklist
THE ROAD TO BITTERSWEET
A Winter 2018 Okra Pick!
“You will fall in love with Wallis Ann Stamper as she meets the bitter challenges of her hardscrabble life, inspired by her sweet love for her family. Her grit and unfailing faith in herself will melt your heart, as it did mine.”
—Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author
“Everhart is a good storyteller and makes her characters and their experiences come alive.”
—Booklist
“The book is Southern fiction at its finest.”
—Historical Novels Society
THE EDUCATION OF DIXIE DUPREE
An Indie Next List Selection!
“Please open your heart to Dixie Dupree. With unflinching honesty and a voice that rings with authenticity, she survives the unthinkable. Her story celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit and the triumph of the imagination. An important novel, beautifully written, this is a story to cherish.”
—Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Young Dixie Dupree is an indomitable spirit in this coming-of-age novel that is a heartbreaking and honest witness to the resilience of human nature and the fighting spirit and courage residing in all of us.”
—The Huffington Post
“In a powerful coming‑of‑age story that pitches southern charm against dark family secrets, the voice of 11‑year‑old Dixie Dupree captivates from the first page to the last.”
—Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of The Perfect Son
