A Top Ten Finalist for Best Historical Novel, Goodreads Choice Awards, and a LibraryReads and Okra PickA big-hearted coming-of-age debut set in civil rights-era New Orleans—a novel of Southern eccentricity and secrets When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for … throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.
For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.
For fans of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and The Help, Dollbaby brings to life the charm and unrest of 1960s New Orleans through the eyes of a young girl learning to understand race for the first time.
By turns uplifting and funny, poignant and full of verve, Dollbaby is a novel readers will take to their hearts.
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This is a great book. I loved all the characters. And the events correctly portrayed the time period.
Great read, could not put it down!
This book touched on social issues without beating you up about it. The characters are wonderful, flawed and inspirational. Beautifully written. The story ended a little abruptly for me, but otherwise a great story.
Very much like The Help. Good read.
Loved this book. It has a southern background which is my favorite. Characters were fun.
I would recommend this book, especially if you are from New Orleans or have lived there. It captures the city beautifully! I can see it as a movie and didn,t want it to end!
It was an outstanding novel that takes place in the South in the early 1960s-1970s ! The characters are wonderfully written and the story line lovely. I could not put it down !
I was excited to read this book, and it was great for what it is. But I would have loved to have a much deeper, detailed story. This was very surface level. Could have been so much more!
What a wonderful story, funny, sad, interesting characters. The more you read the more you care about this mixed family. It’s set in New Orleans, a city I love. I could visualize the surroundings and the way of life there. I didn’t want the story to end. I bought this as an ebook but end up buying the actual book to enjoy for years to come, I also bought a copy for my daughter because It’s such a good book I want her to enjoy it as much as I did.
Very entertaining read with wonderful characters …..
I enjoyed how this story recreated a time and place, while telling a compelling story.
Really enjoyed this read. It’s a touch of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with just a bit more humor and a Ms. Havisham tupe grandmother.
Great story, loved the characters!
An unexpected little treasure, set mostly during the 1960’s black civil rights movement in the south. A domestic setting reveals the way things were, and the hopes and dreams of what could be. Worth reading.
I enjoyed every word and am looking forward to something else by this author.
Loved this book. So realistic of the civil- rights era, and the fact that family and love knows no color. Wonderful characters, some very sad parts, that had to deal with mental illness throughout the book. Some of us turn out Ok in spite of all the twists and turns that life throws at us. Some turn out OK because people outside of family pour love and care into our lives.
Loved the story and the characters. Not a boring moment.
This receives my highest recommendation for books I’ve read this year. Unlike other coming of age stories, this focuses on the “minor characters until they quite surpass the main ones. There is such empathy for the maids of the household who end up raising the little girl, teaching her about life including church and how to cope in a world where black and white children hadn’t been allowed to be friends.I couldn’t put it down and yet hated for it to end. There’s an excellent twist which I had suspected but unconfirmed till near the end. Dialogue and humor are superb!
Well developed characters tell a realistic story of life in the past.
I really enjoyed it. It had many twists and turns. Characters were well developed.
Some moments of laughter and some tears.