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From Amazon.com: "The Pulitzer-nominated author of Earl in the Yellow Shirt turns her acclaimed talents to an epic story of three generations of Southern women at Big Eddy, the home place they love. Heir to the Everlasting begins at the turn of the last century with the beautiful, determined Pinkie Alexander, strong-willed matron of the Alexander clan. Come Hell or the high water of the south Georgia river which gave Big Eddy its name, Pinkie will ensure the survival of her family on their beloved land--a place where the family cemetery guards the spirit of the past, and where secrets, as well as the dearly departed, are buried.
Follow the lives, loves, mysteries, deadly feuds and steely courage of the Alexander women through a full century of joys and sorrows. Heir to the Everlasting showcases the culture, language and daily travails of their time and place with vivid storytelling skills and Janice Daugharty's love for 'the working words.'"
I enjoyed reading Heir to the Everlasting and the glimpse it provided into the lives of the Alexander family. For this reader, the touchstone of the story is Big Eddy, the family plantation, and May Alexander Wetherington is the keystone.
Big Eddy is the touchstone because that is the family "seat" and makes the rest of the story possible. It is the kind of place that embodies the phrase "if only these walls could talk," although, in this case, it's if only the walls and the land could talk. Through the lives of Pinkie (May's grandmother), May and Sara Ann (May's granddaughter), how they carry on and make their lives better - and sometimes worse - and keep their heads up in spite of troubles and tribulations is a story that I believe many readers can relate to.
May Alexander Wetherington is the keystone of the story. While Heir to the Everlasting is as much Pinkie's and Sara Ann's story as it is May's, the book is a tale of her growing up on Big Eddy, growing older, marrying, having children, but always coming back to the family home, and seeing what she can do for her own granddaughter as Pinkie did for her.
The heart of the story is love. Love of family, love of the land, and simply love of life - even if it may be a bygone thing. It is also a story of relationships - how they define us, how we define them, the blind spots they may cause us and how they make us stronger.
A wonderful book that I would recommend to anyone who likes a good story that doesn't necessarily deliver a happy ending, but a fitting one for the tale it tells.
Visit Janice Daughtery's site by clicking www.janicedaugharty.com
(Cross-posted to Goodreads, Librarything, Amazon.com, and Barnes & Noble)
Available for purchase at the following locations:
Bell Bridge Books
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
