Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society: A Novel
Naples, Florida, was nothing but a tiny backwater in the 1960s. Dora Witherspoon, called the Turtle Lady for her tendency to rescue injured snapping turtles, is resigned to being back in town. The scandal of her divorce is soon eclipsed by the arrival of Jackie Hart, a middle-aged, fabulous, and dissatisfied Boston housewife. With the help of the town librarian, Jackie forms the Collier County Women’s Literary Society. The reading group (or salon, as she insists) attracts the town misfits: Plain Jane, a spinster with a secret career; Robbie-Lee Simpson, the town’s only gay man; Miss Bailey White, fresh out of prison for killing her husband; and Priscilla Harmon, a young African American maid with dreams of higher education. Jackie stirs up more than just literary discussion as she adjusts to southern ways, running afoul of her husband’s boss and the local Klan chapter. The so-called misfits of the town are good company, although a few very early revelations eliminate some much-needed tension. This first novel is a sweet story of female bonding and southern grit that will remind readers of Fannie Flagg. --Susan Maguire