QUEENIE’S PLACE, set in rural North Carolina in the early seventies, is the story of an unusual sisterhood between a thirty-something white woman from California and a fifty-something black women from the south. From the moment Doreen Donavan sees the “Welcome to Klan Country” sign outside Goldsboro, North Carolina is one culture shock after another. She thinks the women she meets on the military … military base, where she and her family now live, are the dullest, stuffiest, most stuck-up women she’s ever run across, and frankly, they don’t think much of her either. She’s hot, miserable, and bored. Then one day, BAM, her car tire goes flat, right in front of a roadhouse outside the town of Richland, near where MCB Camp Puller is located. Inside, Queenie is holding forth at the piano. The place is jumping. Besides the music, there’s dancing and the best barbecue in North Carolina. Doreen’s husband, Tom arrives and must practically peel her out of the place. Queenie doesn’t expect to see Doreen again, but Doreen comes back and their unlikely friendship begins. Without warning, Queenie’s place is closed, the women accused of prostitution and bootlegging. A born crusader (she cut her teeth demonstrating against the Vietnam War—yes, even with her husband over there), Doreen quickly dons her armor and saddles up. Things don’t go quite as planned.
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QUEENIE’S PLACE by Toni Morgan
1971. When feisty Californian, Doreen Donavan moves with her husband and son to the military base in North Carolina, she does not fit in with the military wives. She finds friendship at Queenie’s Place, a barbeque joint with the spicy smell of barbeque, lively piano and livelier conversation with a black clientele.
White bar owner, Bud Hinkley, does everything in his power to run Queenie out of business, fire bombs, police raids, town council meetings, vandalizing her business to scare Queenie away. Doreen tries to rally support with door-to-door campaigns, speaking to women’s clubs and council meetings, marches and protests. But when the Ku Klux Klan arrives in white hoods and burning crosses to Queenie’s Place, Doreen yanks the hood and reveals the enemy’s identity. Doreen fights her family, the town council, the mayor and the military officer’s club to fight for Queenie’s right to run her barbeque business. But, Queenie harbors a secret that may bring them all down.
Rebecca Rosenberg CHAMPAGNE WIDOWS 2021 http://www.rebecca-rosenberg.com
This was quite an eye opener of a read! Sadly this more than likely happened, and not just at Queenie’s place but all over the south and it was not that long ago really. It doesn’t matter that there are laws, unless those who are enforcing the law are on your side- it is hard to have a say or be treated fairly and accordingly.
Doreen, her son and husband have just been given orders that they are being moved to a different military base – straight across the country. From California, to North Carolina. One ocean to another. These are two very different places and Doreen gets herself in trouble trying to defend what is right, even though most in that town turn a blind eye to the corruption that is going on. Doreen is bound and determined to set things straight, to make sure everyone is treated fairly like the law states and even it comes with risking her husbands military career.
Queenie isn’t sure what this white women wants and doesn’t understand her drive to keep coming back and wanting to change things. Things haven’t changed in decades and stirring up trouble is the last thing she needs. But Doreen does not seem to understand that is the way it is there, they do as they are told whether it is right or wrong, doesn’t matter what the law says. It is who runs the town, that says what goes. As Doreen continues to visit and push, Queenie decides she will play along, that is the only way Doreen will learn and understand their way of living. As Doreen battles the whole town, Queenie has a different understanding of Doreen and a friendship ensues. She finally has someone on her side. Someone that is fighting for the right of the law to finally be followed and someone that believes in them as equals.
I want to thank Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for the invite, and the author for the free book.
I enjoy reading about strong women. Morgan hooked me immediately with her description of the book’s first strong woman, Doreen Donovan: “…with her California suntan and a personal dress style somewhere between Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and Chelsea Street modern.” We first meet her in 1971 at an anti-war demonstration in California, where her sign gets maximum attention: “MARINE CORPS WIFE FOR PEACE.” Her husband Tom, a helicopter pilot, is mostly supportive of her strong opinions and desire to better the world (or at least her corner of it), but there’s some conflict between Tom’s job and Doreen’s mission. Likely as a result of her vocal public opinions, Tom is moved from the West Coast to Camp Puller, North Carolina, known among other military families as the “armpit of the world.” The couple move there with their son Billy, passing a “Welcome to Klan Country” sign on the way.
Early in the story, we see that Doreen is not a fit with the woman on the base, nor the people in the local town. That changes, when she meets Queenie, the second strong woman who headlines the story. Queenie is patient with her new friend. Doreen has a lot to learn about family connections, the town, it’s background, and the cast of characters who live there.
This book is about the strength of female relationships, the importance of teaching our children about equality, and the value of doing what’s right—no matter how unpopular. Throughout, Morgan uses humor to lighten the storyline, while never shying away from the harsh truths of life. Although the story is set in the early 70s, the parallels to today’s headlines were a stark reminder. We’ve come a distance, but we have a long, long way to go.
I was immediately drawn into Toni Morgan’s novel, Queenie’s Place, by its storyline of a Marine Corps officer’s wife who is a fighter for causes during the early 1970s. When the book opens, we are introduced to Doreen through the eyes of her son Billy as he waits for her at a peace march against the Vietnam War, “ . . . with her Southern California suntan and a personal dress style somewhere between Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and Chelsea Street modern.”
It is no surprise, then, when Doreen’s husband is transferred from California to North Carolina, that Doreen is in for some culture shock. The descriptions of culture shock, starting with a “Welcome to Klan Country” billboard are vividly and realistically drawn. I particularly liked how the stifling heat and humidity in that area of North Carolina were used to underscore the oppressive culture of bigotry Doreen finds herself fighting against when a faction of townspeople try to close down Queenie’s Place, a roadhouse for black Marines.
Doreen becomes involved in Queenie’s cause through chance and a simple act of kindness. Doreen’s car gets a flat tire in front of Queenie’s Place, and she is made to feel welcome. At this point in the story, the first-person narration alternates between Doreen and Queenie.
Hearing Queenie’s story in her own voice takes her from being a “cause” to a living, breathing human being. In fact, the sections where Queenie speaks were my favorite. In addition to her compelling life history, she is warm, genuine, and carries herself with a certain grace. I could see why Doreen was so drawn to her.
I also appreciated that as the story unfolds, Doreen’s youthful idealism is portrayed in all of its complexity and unintended consequences, including its impact on her family and those she has committed herself to helping.
Queenie’s Place is a clear reminder that Jim Crow was not so very long ago, and we all must be vigilant to keep him where he belongs: as a painful footnote in history. I look forward to reading more of Toni Morgan’s engaging and thought-provoking fiction.