Review: Miss Dreamsville by Amy Hill Hearth

Miss Dreamsville and The Collier County Women's Literary Society by Amy Hill Hearth

Expected Publication: October 2, 2012

Format: NetGalley

Publisher: Atria Books

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Eighty-year-old Dora, the narrator of a story that began a half century earlier, is bonding with an unlikely set of friends, including Jackie Hart, a restless middle-aged wife and mother from Boston, who gets into all sorts of trouble when her family moves to a small, sleepy town in Collier County, Florida, circa 1962.

With humor and insight the novel chronicles the awkward North-South cultural divide as Jackie, this hapless but charming "Yankee," looks for some excitement in her life by accepting an opportunity to host a local radio show where she creates a mysterious, late-night persona, "Miss Dreamsville," and by launching a reading group—the Collier County Women’s Literary Society—thus sending the conservative and racially segregated town into uproar. The only townspeople who venture to join are regarded as outsiders at best—a young gay man, a divorced woman, a poet, and a young black woman who dreams of going to college.

My Thoughts

Where do I begin? This book was a real joyful read. As a southern girl I can love and appreciate Southern fiction. As someone who's obsessed with all things 60's it just made this even better for me. I think it was very true to the times. This book was a mixture of fun and serious.

The cast of characters are a crazy and an offbeat bunch which makes the story. The way this group of outcast came together and became in a way a family is touching. They not only learned from each other but also learned more about themselves. Their little literary group taught them more than just books, but in a way how to be more fearless in their own lives and with their futures. To take risks and to discovery that there was more to life than just their little small town.

I can't wait for the next book by Amy Hill Hearth. This book is a fun and fabulous read!