In addition to historical fiction I also like Southern Fiction. Southern Fiction covers a rather broad range, just like historical fiction does, in my opinion. Some of it is historical, some is more present day. Also some is quite serious and some of it is light-hearted. The Miss Julia books are Southern Fiction; the main character, Miss Julia, lives in North Carolina, and I definitely consider it light reading. Pick this book up if you want something fun to read. This is the first of a series of books and there are a total of 23 books in the series. The author just finished the last book in this year. The first book is Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, so I will summarize the first book only.
In the first chapter we meet Miss Julia, who was married to Wesley Lloyd Springer for 44 years. It is a hot day in August, and a couple of months ago her husband died of a heart attack in his car, right in the driveway. Miss Julia’s husband was a very well-to-do banker, and a pillar of the community. Both Wesley and Miss Julia were members of the Presbyterian Church in town. Miss Julia is busy putting her affairs in order after her husband’s sudden death. He handled all of the financial affairs during their marriage and kept Miss Julia mostly in the dark about the amount of money they had. She is finding out she has much more money than she thought.
There is a knock on the door and when Miss Julia goes to see who is there, a woman is standing at the door with a small boy who looks a lot like her late husband. The woman introduces the boy, who is named Wesley Lloyd Junior – her dead husband’s son. She introduces herself as Hazel Marie Puckett and tells Miss Julia she needs to leave the boy with her because she needs to go to Raleigh to be trained how to do nails so she can make a living. She tells Miss Julia that Wesley Lloyd Springer did not leave her a penny and now she has no money and no way to make a living. She walks away, leaving Wesley Lloyd Junior with Miss Julia, who is, understandably, not at all happy.
As the book goes on, we find out how Miss Julia learns to deal with the fact that her husband has been seeing another woman for years, and how the whole town knew or suspected. It’s quite a fun story, and Miss Julia’s life changes for the better in so many ways. I enjoyed the whole series and you may want to give it a try.
As I mentioned before, there are many Southern Fiction titles, and while some are light, some are much darker. Following are more Southern Fiction books I have read, some contemporary, some historical, some light and fun to read, some tackle more serious, weighty subjects.
