Miss Fannie Mae's Girls by Larry Batchelor

I received Miss Fannie Mae's Girls from Netgalley.com for free for an honest review.

Title: Miss Fannie Mae's Girls

Author: Larry Batchelor

ASIN: B007I9MGNA

Publisher: Amazon

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Print Length: 150 Pages

Cover: I found the cover somewhat misleading, it gives the impression at the book is set in the first half of the twentieth century, but although there is some mention of the early part of Fanny Mae's childhood the majority of the novel covers the period after her death in 2009.

Plot: This is a southern tale of the lives of the five daughters of Fanny Mae, an elderly African-American woman born in Macon County, Georgia. It follows the way in which the lives of her daughters change as a result of her death – an event which brings the sisters together for the first time in over ten years.

I found this an intriguing book; the author has a very engaging style that keeps the reader entertained and amused. It is structured into three parts. The first section consists of a series of vignettes that establish the context of the story and the lives of the main protagonists. The middle section establishes the characters of the key players and the final section focuses on the wedding of one of the sisters. I have to say that it took me a little while to settle into the book. The vignettes at the beginning were a little disjointed but once through them the second part of the book is a delight. The characters really come to life and the sparing between the sisters, their partners and the single grandchild is very entertaining. Some might say the characters are a little stereotyped, but I found them engaging. The dialogue is very well written and really helped with the development of the characters. I did struggle with the setting of the book. I think this is because I was expecting something different from the cover. Also the story starts in the time period I was expecting, but very quickly jumps forward to the twenty-first century. I kept getting jolted by reminders that this was a modern story and not an historical one. The wedding scene takes up a considerable part of the book, including the build up to purchasing all the relevant paraphernalia, the rehearsal and finally the wedding itself. I must admit to getting somewhat bored reading through it - it felt like those wedding videos that one sometimes feels obliged to sit through. But like those videos, if you stick with it, there are one or two nuggets. And such was the case in this novel - there are a couple of unexpected revelations.

An unusual touch is an appendix to the book which includes a collection of southern-style food recipes, which as someone who enjoys cooking, I shall have a go at.

What others thought:

At the time of writing there were no reviews on Amazon.co.uk.

There were 13 reviews on Amazon.com, three of 4* and the rest 5*

Of the three reviews on Goodreads.com two were 5* and one was 3*, one was a duplicate of a review on Amazon.com.

There can be little doubt that those who have read the book have thoroughly enjoyed it. Many of the comments warning readers not to start reading the book if they have more important things to do! I feel that I might have been a little harsh, in giving it only three stars. And indeed it was a difficult book to rate, but the points I have mentioned above mean I feel I can only justify three stars.