Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 27 AUG 2012

In 1962, Jackie Hart and her family move from Boston to Naples, Fla. There, Jackie is eager to do more than merely keep house, so she starts a book club with some locals, including a divorc e, a convicted murderer, a gay man, and a black woman. The oddball group stands out amid the conventional townsfolk, who quickly cast a suspicious eye on troublemaking Jackie and co. But then a mysterious personality by the name of Miss Dreamsville hits the radio waves, and capture s the people s hearts. This new doyenne of the airwaves is, of course, Jackie, but she keeps her identity secret. Everything moves along swimmingly until local Klansmen decide to take action against the diverse and tolerant literary club. Despite dealing with some heavy subjects race, sexuality, and the fickleness of appearances, among them Hearth, known for her nonfiction (Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters First 100 Years), deftly manages a funny and charming fiction debut.