Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind (Miss Julia Series #1) by Ann B. Ross
William Morrow and Company, 1999
Miss Julia, a recently bereaved and newly wealthy widow, is appalled when Hazel Marie Puckett appears at her door with a youngster in tow and announces that the child is the son of Miss Julia’s late husband. Suddenly, this longtime church member and pillar of her small Southern community finds herself in the center of an unseemly scandal and the guardian of a nine-year-old who turns her life upside down.
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind is a coming-of-age story for a woman who has lived her entire life within traditional Southern bounds of conventional women’s roles and male-dominated church leadership. When her circumstances change, Miss Julia tests the opportunity to live differently.
In her peppy, Southern tone, Miss Julia zings perfectly chosen one-liners. While problem-solving, she comes up with crazy ideas that actually work—though not always in the way she envisioned. (Her friends often scramble to save Miss Julia from, well, herself.) And, just when she was hoping life would settle down, Miss Julia drums up the energy to deal with a new set of disruptions. Readers will love Miss Julia for embracing her new world and for sharing her path—mistakes and all—with us.
How will Miss Julia’s relationships develop with the unexpected friends and family who have turned up? What kind of crazy idea will she come up with to handle the next crisis life throws at her? We’ll have to read the second book in the series to find out. (Click here to read my review of the second book, Miss Julia Takes Over.)
Have you read the Miss Julia series yet? What do you think of this resilient Southern lady?
