We are an informal group.  Join us whether you have finished reading the book or just want to enjoy our lively conversation.  We usually meet at Barnes and Noble book store on Kingston Pike in the cafe area -  on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm.

Call or e-mail Peggy Littmann 776-1013, plittmann@comcast.net to RSVP for more information.

This month's selection is  The Education Of Dixie Dupree by Donna Everhart.

In 1969, Dixie Dupree is eleven years old and already an expert liar. Sometimes the lies are for her mama, Evie’s sake—to explain away a bruise brought on by her quick-as-lightning temper. And sometimes the lies are to spite Evie, who longs to leave her unhappy marriage in Perry County, Alabama, and return to her beloved New Hampshire. But for Dixie and her brother, Alabama is home, a place of pine-scented breezes and hot, languid afternoons.

Though Dixie is learning that the family she once believed was happy has deep fractures, even her vivid imagination couldn’t concoct the events about to unfold. Dixie records everything in her diary—her parents’ fights, her father’s drinking and his unexplained departure, and the arrival of Uncle Ray. Only when Dixie desperately needs help and is met with disbelief does she realize how much damage her past lies have done. But she has courage and a spirit that may yet prevail, forcing secrets into the open and allowing her to forgive and become whole again.

 
Narrated by her young heroine in a voice as sure and resonant as "The Secret Life of Bees", "Lily" or "Bastard Out of Carolina’s Bone", Donna Everhart’s remarkable debut is a story about mothers and daughters, the guilt and pain that pass between generations, and the truths that are impossible to hide, especially from ourselves.