Quite a Year for Plums
A Novel
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3.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Anyone who has read the best-selling Mama Makes Up Her Mind or listened to Bailey White's commentaries on NPR knows that she is a storyteller of inimitable wit and charm. Now, in her stunningly accomplished first novel, she introduces us to the peculiar yet lovable people who inhabit a small town in south Georgia. Meet serious, studious Roger, the peanut pathologist and unlikely love object of half the town's women. Meet Roger's ex-mother-in-law, Louise, who teams up with an ardent typographer in an attempt to attract outer-space invaders with specific combinations of letters and numbers. And meet Della, the bird artist who captivates Roger with the sensible but enigmatic notes she leaves on things she throws away at the Dumpster ("This fan works, but makes a clicking sound and will not oscillate").
Heartbreakingly tender, often hilarious, Quite a Year for Plums is a delectable treat from a writer who has been called a national treasure.
Customer Reviews
Utterly charming
Not much happens in this delightful novel, and that’s part of its charm. The folks that White has conjured up are linked by family connections, by the love of the Georgia landscape, and by eccentricity. Perhaps my favorite character is Louise, an elderly woman who entices “little spacemen” to land in her garden with crafty arrangements of letters cut out of old tin signs. But there’s also Roger, loved by all, whose life is almost entirely focused on peanut plants and the thrips that bedevil them. And Jim Wade, who never saw an old electric fan he didn’t immediately desire. Bayley White’s affection for her characters is contagious; you might find yourself smiling at the things they do long after you’ve finished the book.