The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee by Talya Tate Boerner was our book for this month. It was a delightful read and enjoyed by everyone in book club. As an added bonus for our discussion today, the author zoomed in with us from Fayetteville.
That is a first for our group. The author is a Master Gardener in Fayetteville, but she grew up in Mississippi County, Arkansas on a cotton farm. The story is a work of fiction, but semi-autobiographical. Talya Tate Boerner took up writing after a 30-year career as a commercial banker in Dallas. She moved to NW Arkansas and started writing. Originally, Talya wrote the story as a memoir, but several publishers encouraged her to make it a work of fiction, since it was her first book. She took their advice and added some new twists to her story. It was a delightful read.
The story is narrated by Gracie Lee, a 10-year-old girl with a younger sister who lives in Savage Crossing in Mississippi County. It was like reading a page from my own childhood, with a stay-at-home mom and one sister, making cakes in an easy bake oven, playing with Barbies, riding bikes, catching fireflies and having a party line telephone. Her mom reminded me of my mom, who was dedicated to her family and didn’t take much time for herself. Luckily, I did not have a father like she did. Her dad, Lee was one of the best farmers in the county, exceptionally smart and good at farming, but not the best family man. He was a mean alcoholic, who Gracie Lee thinks she can change. It is the story of small-town life where everyone knows each other (so not like me, who grew up in the city -St. Louis). It is a coming of age story that covers family dynamics, farming and how difficult that can be, substance abuse, and dealing with family illness. For me it was also a time capsule of the early 1970’s.
I liked a lot of the characters, including Gracie, her mother, Reverend Brown, and the man in the grey house, but Gracie was my favorite. Gracie has spunk and an adventurous spirit, which sometimes gets her into trouble, but she a has a big heart. She loves reading and has quite an imagination. She goes to a small southern Baptist Church, and one week when the preacher calls for invitational time, she goes up to ask him a question (which she then does weekly), but everyone thinks she went up to be “saved” and baptized. That wasn’t her intent, but it happens anyway.
I thoroughly recommend reading this book, which has an interesting twist at the end. If you want to learn more about the author here is a link to her website: https://talyatateboerner.com/
Our next book is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
I read several other books this month. I would recommend Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I learned a lot about Japanese internment during WWII and differences between Japanese and Chinese culture. It was a good read. I also really liked The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, but it is pretty depressing. It gives you an inside look at domestic abuse and the hard life of rugged, isolated Alaska. What have you read lately?