Do Not Judge This Book By Its Cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        Do not get me wrong, darlings, Donna Everhart has written a compelling first novel.  The reader just has to know what he or she is in for,  While the cover, and some reviews, recall Sue Monk Kidd's "The Secret Lives Of Bees" this is not the sort of sweet story that book was.

                                         Set mostly in Alabama, the story is Southern, but not Gothic.  Dixie Dupree is a child with a creative imagination, and the resilience of a pre-pubescent Scarlett O' Hara.  She has to be.

                                           She has an older brother, A. J,  Their parents' marriage is falling apart.  Dixie, at 11,  wants to know and understand what is going on, but her mother's response is often abusive, and her father's passive and drunk.  They do not understand the tragic circumstances leading up to her parents' marriage, resulting in Dixie's wanting to understand, but being undermined by the adults around her.

                                           When the father suffers a tragic accident, Uncle Ray, the mother's brother, from New Hampshire, where they were raised, comes to live with them and help out.  He does more damage than good, as he slowly begins to move in on Dixie.  That's right.  You heard me.  And as Raymond weaves his web of friendship, trust, abuse, and threats, Dixie does her best to fight him off--making her atypical--but falls into the fear of not telling anyone for fear of harm or disbelief.

                                              It is when the family makes a trip to New Hampshire that the truth slowly unravels, and the surviving family is given a chance to heel.  Dixie is resilient, but will need help!  Uncle Ray gets his, but not enough, as far as I am concerned.

                                                Donna Everhart writes a compelling tale of the consequences of hiding from the truth, of the dynamics of child sexual abuse between abuser and abused, and what to watch out for.  There is a surprise twist at the very end, though part of it I suspected.

                                                   This novel held me chair bound.  To be sure, it is not Flannery O'Connor, or Carson McCullers--what is?--but Donna Everhart presented a family saga I could not tear away from.  She scores on her first try; so much so, I want to read her second!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                      Best of luck to you, Donna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!