Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter

A conventional couple abandons a successful but predictable life in Memphis to operate an inn in Vermont. Leelee Satterfield has no interest in rural life or the hospitality business, but she's crazy about her husband--he's the one who has romantic visions of snowy Vermont--so she reluctantly agrees to give it a go for a year. A broad array of characters challenges narrator Marguerite Gavin to convincingly reproduce difficult accents, including Southern drawl, New England twang, French-Canadian, and German-American. To a Northern ear, Gavin does a creditable job on all but the New Englanders; listeners from other regions may have different reactions. Gavin handles transitions smoothly, guiding listeners easily through the plot of this light comedy. M.O.B. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

August 17, 2009
In Patton's plucky debut, naïve daddy's girl Leelee Satterfield acquiesces yet again to her spoiled husband, Baker, who wants to move the family of four from Leelee's beloved Memphis to middle-of-nowhere Vermont to buy and run an inn. Leelee grudgingly agrees to keep the inn as is for a year while the former owners, less-than-personable German siblings Helga and Rolf Schloygin, dictate how the delicate Southern belle should run her home and the business. Though readers will initially agree with Helga's stern pointers, they will inevitably adore Leelee as she weathers each storm, gaining backbone while simultaneously shedding the helpless princess persona. Her transformation is (of course) accomplished with the aid of boisterous best friends, unlikely new allies and a heaping helping of girl power. The author is none-too-subtle about the changes (Leelee, for instance, “never, ever would have had the nerve to say any of the things I did if Daddy were still alive”), and, though owing heavily to formula, Patton's novel delivers on its feel-good moments and inspiring fantasies of finally making it on your own.