An unlikely group comes together in a small Florida town to form a Literary Society. Set in Naples, Florida, before the building boom, the Society is composed of a divorced woman, an “un-open” gay man, an elderly woman just released from a 30 year jail term for killing her husband, a librarian with hidden aspirations, a female writer who hides her real identity, and a young black woman who is a maid by day but who also has hidden dreams. Brought together by Jackie, a Northerner from Boston who has moved to Naples with her family, they are stunned by the changes which Jackie brings about even as Jackie herself has a secret; she is the sultry voice of Miss Dreamsville, the late-night radio voice that shocks and galvanizes the town.

APPEAL: If you like novels like The Help, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, or Gods in Alabama, this is the book for you.

NOTES (language, violence, sex, humor, satire):
The audio version of the book,. read by the author, is very well done.

DESCRIPTOR:
Florida, Naples, life change events, intellectual life, Societies, friendship

SIMILAR AUTHORS:
Fannie Flagg, Kathryn Stockett, Joshilyn Jackson

AWARDS:

DATE/STAFF: 2/14/2013 / KD