This book takes place in 1963 Mississippi where we meet a young girl named Starla Jane Claudelle. Starla lives with her Mamie while her father is off working at an oil rig and trying to earn enough money to support his family back home. Starla’s mother, Lucinda, left Starla and her father years ago in the hopes of someday becoming famous. Starla has a tendency to get herself put on restriction, usually by sass talking her Mamie. But this year Starla decides she has had enough. Her Mamie does nothing but put her down and try to change everything about her, so Starla decides to run away to Nashville in the hopes of finding her mother. On Starla’s journey she meets Lula, an older African-American woman named Eula that seems to be making quite the escape of her own. This story tells about their adventure together and the bonds that they form along the way.
Starla Jane narrates this entire story for readers, and let me be the first to tell you that the story would just not feel the same without her narration. Starla still has enough innocence about her to make her lovable and sweet, but she also knows enough of the world to understand that she is not really wanted by her Mamie. You cannot put a price on what Starla learns as she travels with Eula and baby James. Starla sees the world as she has never seen it before. This is definitely a coming of age story, and I felt like I got to witness Starla growing up right before my eyes. It is funny how much this road trip matured Starla, and gave her the courage to think for herself. Fans of a spunky heroine will certainly enjoy Starla Jane Claudelle.
As I mentioned earlier, this story is set in 1963 Mississippi so racial lines and tensions were extremely high. I thought to myself at first, how is this story going to go when you have a nine-year-old as the narrator telling about a time in history that will never be forgotten because of all that went on? Susan Crandall knocked this one of the park. This was the fine line that Starla learned all about having to do with love and hate and how people were behaving towards racial conflict in this time. I cannot wait to see what is next for this author!
Author: Susan Crandall
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Mainstream Fiction
Release Date: 07/02/2013
Pages: 320 ISBN: 978-1476707723