About this item
Recommended by Karen D. in Joppa In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother's Mississippi home. Starla hasn't seen her momma since she was three - that's when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. Starla's daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of "Lord, give me strength," is the nearest thing to family Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. . . . If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star.
About the Author
Indiana native Susan Crandall's breakout novel, Whistling Past the Graveyard was released July 2, 2013. Since then it has been featured in national book clubs, been an Indie Next pick and won the SIBA Award for Fiction. Her previous works have garnered national awards, including the coveted RITA(c) . Her next novel, THE FLYING CIRCUS, will be released July 1, 2015. With the exception of seven years in Chicago, she's spent her entire life in her Indiana hometown. When not reading, writing or watching movies, Susan spends time with her husband, children and plethora of pets.
