This is a book about a lie that never ends.
I like almost all books set in the south, so it’s no surprise I enjoyed this one (makes me wonder why it took me three and a half years to finally reading it after I purchased it). I wonder if I would have rated it five stars if I hadn’t read it on the coattails of The Stranger in The Woods, but I don’t think so. There were a few discrepancies that I find hard to ignore, mostly with the weather. I find it hard to believe that it was chilly enough on Christmas Eve in Florida to warrant a fire. And the heat is barely mentioned, although I know for a fact Florida is positively stifling in the summertime. And Lord at the bugs. But anyway.
The book lags for the first third, and to me, didn’t become truly compelling until about halfway. However, don’t write it off because it’s worth a read. And it goes fast! I love how the maid is named Blanche, I can see her clearly. I love how Miz Ora Beckworth grows and develops even as she ages outwardly. I absolutely ADORE her sharp tongue. I wish I had been witty enough to use her one-liner: “Nice day, idnnit?” “It was.”
She taps all the Southernisms right on the head, right down to the closeness of families and the fine veneer we all polish so you don’t notice the big crack at the base. She has the small town gossips down to a T and doesn’t hesitate to say how things really are, even though they’re flawed.
“I said a quick prayer that this apple had rolled a good way from the tree.”
Her observations are similar to my own: “I wasn’t one to pray often. I was raised Methodist myself and we were taught not to bother God with anything real specific.” “Doing the right thing is apparently harder than it sounds when politics are involved.” “Never underestimate the power of baked goods.”
Ora was a society wife, and with no children, her social life was made up of Junior League activities and fundraisers and such. She understands the importance of your momma’s silverware but finds it difficult to apply to life after her husband passes.
“I’ve had a nice life and Walter was good to me for all practical purposes. It’s just that their questions made me wonder how my life might have been different if I’d lived it for myself and not for the man I married.” She says later, about his death: “It was not a good feeling, mind you. It was more like having been tethered by a lifeline and being cut loose in a gentle, but persistent tide.”
I believe her thoughts are shared by many women of her generation who lived a similar life.
As far as her windowed life and family go, her relationship with her maid and the Peecan Man, she did what she thought was right for the time, and she did the best she could, in keeping with everyone else’s wishes. She helped make dreams come true, she believed in the perseverance of getting what you want, even if it wasn’t what she necessarily wanted. “‘I always wanted to be a lawyer.’ Sweet Jesus, here we go again.”
Read this novel about deceit, because it’s also about trust, and ask yourself what was right. Who lost? And what would you have done in their situations? Put yourself in each of their shoes.

Buy it here