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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Beautiful story, I really enjoyed it.
Loved it.
I love stories about the “Big Easy”. This book makes you feel part of the quirky culture of New Orleans.
Very original, good story! Very well written. Highly recommend!
Great characters ,with twists and turns and unexpected development of plot .
An easy read that kept this reader engaged and entertained.
Never patronizing or simpleminded, full of surprises !
Read it !
This book is a must-read, loved all the characters it kept you entertained from beginning to end.
Enjoyed this.
Couldn’t put the book down
Excellent read!!!!! Couldn’t put it down. Best book I’ve read in a while. A page turner! Too bad the author hasn’t written any other books.
Couldn’t put this book down. Even the ending was a surprise.
Just a good southern story back in the early days in New Orleans.
Good read with surprises.
Great read
Enjoyed this book. Very Good Read!
Lovely easy read with an unexpected ending.
Outstanding book. I enjoyed every minute!
I just couldn’t get into this book. The storyline was just to weird and I had trouble finding a character to want to read about.
It was a great story. I really liked it. It had much substance and about a young girl that is left with her grandmother who she never met in the south. Her father had passed and her mother just left her to go and do her own thing. The two African-American women who worked for her grandmother for years, took her under their wing along with the grandmother. The grandmother was a little strange but loved her granddaughter. It went through trials along the way with family problems but it came together, Wonderful story.
This was a wonderful read.
Loved this book as much as I love New Orleans. A sweet book with believable characters. I kept thinking “This could happen!” Look forward to more books by this author.