Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

August 27, 2012
In 1962, Jackie Hart and her family move from Boston to Naples, Fla. There, Jackie is eager to do more than merely keep house, so she starts a book club with some locals, including a divorcée, a convicted murderer, a gay man, and a black woman. The oddball group stands out amid the conventional townsfolk, who quickly cast a suspicious eye on troublemaking Jackie and co. But then a mysterious personality by the name of Miss Dreamsville hits the radio waves, and captureâs the peopleâs hearts. This new doyenne of the airwaves is, of course, Jackie, but she keeps her identity secret. Everything moves along swimmingly until local Klansmen decide to take action against the diverse and tolerant literary club. Despite dealing with some heavy subjectsârace, sexuality, and the fickleness of appearances, among themâHearth, known for her nonfiction (Having Our Say: The Delaney Sistersâ First 100 Years), deftly manages a funny and charming fiction debut. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor.

September 15, 2012
Hearth (Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, 1994, etc.) goes hog wild with lighthearted humor as she tackles some heavyweight issues in her debut novel. It's 1962, and Bostonians Jackie Hart and family have moved to Naples, Fla., a community that's more country than a bowl of grits. She's itching to make new friends and become involved in community activities, but of course, that's easier said than done. Small Southern towns don't exactly welcome transplanted Northerners with open arms. But Jackie's an obstinate redhead who starts a reading club that attracts a stereotypical mixture of lovable misfits. The salon, as Jackie calls them, meets each week at the town library to discuss books and everything else under the hot Florida sun, and they quickly form a tight bond. There's the librarian, the only member of the group who doesn't carpool with them to the meetings; the gay man who's the town's lone Sears employee; a woman who secretly pens magazine articles about romance and sex; a young black maid with aspirations of a better life; an octogenarian who's also a convicted murderer; and the narrator, a postal clerk who's known around town as the Turtle Lady because she rescues snapping turtles before they can become roadkill. But Jackie's the central force and the one who provides impetus for the group's adventures. In addition to her job as a part-time copy editor at the local paper, she's the anonymous voice of Miss Dreamsville, a sultry radio personality who lulls listeners to sleep in the late hours of the night. Everyone in town is consumed with finding out Miss Dreamsville's true identity, but before a climatic showdown at the annual Swamp Buggy Festival, Jackie and the group tackle some very heavy situations, including local reactions to the Cuban missile crisis that result in a mistaken arrest and a run-in with the KKK. In fact, the characters experience/discuss/confront almost every social, political, religious, gender-sensitive and environmental issue that's relevant in the South during the early '60s, and each topic is couched in so many Southern colloquialisms and treated with such superficiality that it's hard to take any of it too seriously--which is just as well. Fun to read.

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October 15, 2012
Naples, Florida, was nothing but a tiny backwater in the 1960s. Dora Witherspoon, called the Turtle Lady for her tendency to rescue injured snapping turtles, is resigned to being back in town. The scandal of her divorce is soon eclipsed by the arrival of Jackie Hart, a middle-aged, fabulous, and dissatisfied Boston housewife. With the help of the town librarian, Jackie forms the Collier County Women's Literary Society. The reading group (or salon, as she insists) attracts the town misfits: Plain Jane, a spinster with a secret career; Robbie-Lee Simpson, the town's only gay man; Miss Bailey White, fresh out of prison for killing her husband; and Priscilla Harmon, a young African American maid with dreams of higher education. Jackie stirs up more than just literary discussion as she adjusts to southern ways, running afoul of her husband's boss and the local Klan chapter. The so-called misfits of the town are good company, although a few very early revelations eliminate some much-needed tension. This first novel is a sweet story of female bonding and southern grit that will remind readers of Fannie Flagg.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)