Miss Julia Stands Her Ground

April 3, 2006
Ross, reminiscent of Jan Karon and Fannie Flagg, reintroduces the popular Miss Julia, a plucky busybody "of a certain age," in this seventh novel (after Miss Julia's School of Beauty) in her ongoing series. Miss Julia again stands tall in a quaint, narrow-minded Southern city in the western North Carolina mountains, this time facing a paternity dispute over her beloved Little Lloyd, who may be her philandering, deceased former husband's son by another woman, Hazel Marie. To prove Little Lloyd's lineage without actually exhuming a corpse, Miss Julia's new husband Sam Murdoch suggests they retrieve a specimen of her late hubby's DNA, launching a search to find an appropriately personal item-a hairbrush comes to mind, as do the dead man's gallstones. As if that isn't enough to keep her busy, Miss Julia discovers the women of her church have circulated a petition nominating her to run for the board of elders, and the woman claiming Little Lloyd as her own volunteers Miss Julia's home for a wildly inappropriate party. Enjoyable but formulaic, it's light beach reading that should fulfill fans' expectations.

Miss Julia and her many zany predicaments are made even more hilarious by the strong performance of Cynthia Darlow. Darlow has the impressive ability to impersonate the characters of a young boy, a high-strung elderly woman, a calm, mild-mannered old man, and many others. Miss Julia's main concern in this book is trying to prove the paternity of Little Lloyd, the young boy living in her house who has won her heart. Author Ann Ross has cleverly woven this story of mishaps, misunderstandings, and just plain craziness with tongue-in-cheek humor. The story and Cynthia Darlow's performance will have listeners laughing out loud. N.L. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine