Books & Java

Dollbaby

by Laura Lane McNeal  

Synopsis:

When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.

For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.
 

My Review:

Probably the best southern historical fiction I have read to date. Every year I read a book that just stands out for its beauty in the storytelling, the writing, the story, the characters and above all the emotion it evokes when I have the pleasure of reading it. This is for me the book for 2014 (so far). The story of Ibby (Liberty Alice Bell) and her life with her grandmother Fanny, her housekeeper Queenie, Queenie's daughter Babydoll and the rest of their unconventional but equally delightful family (Tbone, Birdelia, Crow, Graham, Balfour, and Norwood). 

The story begins at the height of the Civil Rights movement in 1964 when Ibby's father dies suddenly while on a bicycle outing with Ibby around their home in Olympia, WA. Ibby's mother (Vidrene) packs Ibby up and takes her to Graham's mother (Fanny Bell)in their hometown of New Orleans, LA with the intention of going away for a while to find herself. Vidrene has spoken very poorly of Fanny to Ibby so she is apprehensive of meeting her grandmother whom she assumes is old, crazy and eccentric. Ibby immediately comes to find that her grandmother is unconventional but fascinating and nothing like her mother had set her up to be. Her mother never comes back for Ibby and Fanny assumes the role of caring for her granddaughter and teaching her about the ways of the South. We meet the house staff at Fanny's house to include Queenie and her daughter Babydoll who love and respect Fanny not just as their employer but as their own kin. The book goes from 1964 to 1972 as we see Ibby mature into a college student at Tulane University. 

Throughout the story we see the impact of historical events (i.e. Civil Rights movement, the Woolworth sit ins, the Vietnam war, drugs, the Black Panthers,the introduction of James Brown and the Funk music movement, to name a few) as seen through the eyes of these wonderful characters. So many things happen to these characters as would have happened to frame their lives. All of the stories are revealed as any one of the characters reminisces to a time and place prior to that day in telling Ibby about her Grandmother and their family's past. This book is warm and inviting and the storytelling is as Southern in flavor and style as Gone With the Wind. 

I loved reading every page and look forward to hopefully more by Laura Lane McNeal.