Character driven
Summer is Home
shares the same strong prose as the author's previous work
Miss Gone Overseas.
This uplifting coming-of-age novel envelopes the reader in the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of a simpler, slower paced time.
"Thunder wakes me up and I smell the coming rain. Then lightning makes the wallpaper flowers climb up and up. More thunder and more lightning. I pull the covers over my head, squeeze my eyes shut, and wrap my arms around my knees. I peek out when I hear Miss Frankie shutting the windows."
At three-years-old, Etta begins narrating the story of her childhood, a life divided between a small town in East Texas and a city in Iowa in the 1950s. Etta takes us into her world as she encounters it. She observes births, deaths, the seasons, and the necessity of hard work. Along the way, she is surrounded by an engaging cast of characters: grandparents, an eccentric aunt, a grieving mother, an extended southern family, and her younger cousin sidekick Jackson Parker (JP).