Name: Call Your Daughter Home
Rating: 3.818181818181818 (11 reviews)
ISBN: 9781432867041

Deb Spera

Call Your Daughter Home

It's 1924 South Carolina and the region is still recovering from the infamous boll weevil infestation that devastated the land and the economy. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters from starvation or die at the hands of an abusive husband. Retta is navigating a harsh world as a first-generation freed slave, still employed by the Coles, influential plantation proprietors who once owned her family. Annie is the matriarch of the Coles family and must come to terms with the terrible truth that has ripped her family apart.These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to the terrible injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together.

Kaitlyn Macpherson 

Kristen Claiborn

In a story that felt reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Spera explores the lives of very different women in the deep South in 1924. Spera successfully weaves their individual struggles into the broader story of their relationships with each other. This, though fiction, shows the strength women have always shown regardless of their place on society. This is truly an artful tale of the strength and tenacity of a woman's soul.

Featured on Oprah's Summer Reading List For readers of Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, this extraordinary historical debut novel follows three fierce Southern women in an unforgettable story of motherhood and womanhood. It's 1924 in Branchville, South Carolina and three women have come to a crossroads. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters. Retta, a first-generation freed slave, comes to Gertrude's aid by watching her children, despite the gossip it causes in her community. Annie, the matriarch of the influential Coles family, offers Gertrude employment at her sewing circle, while facing problems of her own at home. These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together. Told in the pitch-perfect voices of Gertrude, Retta, and Annie, Call Your Daughter Home is an emotional, timeless story about the power of family, community, and ferocity of motherhood. "Like Jill McCorkle and Sue Monk Kidd, Spera probes the comfort and strength women find in their own company." -- O, The Oprah Magazine "A mesmerizing Southern tale...Authentic, gripping, a page-turner, yet also a novel filled with language that begs to be savored." -- Lisa Wingate, New York Times Bestselling Author of Before We Were Yours

Anika | The.Bookish.Traveler 🌸

⁣⁣⁣Thank you to @bookclubbish, @parkrowbooks and @debspera for the gifted copy and giving me the opportunity to read this incredible book! ⁣⁣
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⁣Okay y’all there is so much I want to say about this book and there are not enough words to describe how much I enjoyed this southern story. ⁣⁣
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However, what I do want to say is why did I wait so long to get into Historical Fiction?? If you haven’t ventured out to this genre but are really thinking about it then I highly recommend you do! *insert Shia Labeouf do it gif here* ⁣⁣
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I was immediately captivated by these three women. Oretta, Gertrude and Annie are some very strong southern women who each face challenges of their own. ⁣You will laugh and you will cry and by the end you will feel like you know these women. ⁣⁣
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I really loved how the further we got into the story the more we learned about these women. I never felt like their characters or the story went flat. Deb Spera does such a terrific job setting the scene in the southern towns of Reevesville and Branchville South Carolina right before the harsh years of the Great Depression. ⁣⁣
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This is a book that I will definitely be re-reading over and over!

Call Your Daughter Home

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