Thursday, October 27, 2016

High Cotton Country - Leta McCurry's Memorable Debut Novel! Part 2...

You're right...I've never had a two-part review before... But the next part won't give away much of the story, and Leta really took her readers back in time with some old-time music...  I wanted to share a little more--I thoroughly enjoyed remembering and singing along...Hope you do too! Enjoy!


With no place to go, Cazzie stopped at a small motel and asked if she could do work to trade for a room...Once again a woman took this lonely girl under her wing and hired her.  It was while a maid that she met a group of traveling musicians, led by Johnny Gold... who quickly saw that she was sad and depressed... They soon started to play songs just for her...






Because Cazzie reminded him of his little sister who had died, he became protective.  Soon she shared her story with Johnny and he in turn shared the story of his little sister... and when they were heading to Texas, invited her to go along--she was going to find the father of her baby if possible and at least tell him she was pregnant... but didn't know what she'd seen as they slowly drove past a horrible car accident...



The only thing was that she'd be traveling as they did gigs along the way! And then one of the band members started coming in to stay with her while the rest of the band partied with their fans...



When he talked to her, offering to marry her to give her baby a name, she decided to do it...only to be later told by Johnny that he'd wished she hadn't...

Cazzie learned from Johnny “I guess Loy’s what my daddy would call shiftless.” And Johnny was right...

But he didn't leave her until she had three children and started to nag about being able to feed them...


You know, you wonder how  women can get themselves into the messes they do. One thing Cazzie had learned from Granny that was wrong, was that a woman's life was to be married so that she could have babies and raise the family... No wonder Cazzie quickly learned that men were not always willing to take that role as the "breadwinner..." 


Cazzie was intelligent, willing to work hard, and would not accept anything less than being able to take care of her kids. There was no way that she would ever follow in her mother's walk into the river!


McCurry's story may start in the past when there was little that a woman could do alone, with children. But she sets the story at a time when the young girl who had been left by her father at just six, and then bullied and abused in school because she was poor, only to discover that when she was older and became an attractive teenager, that her first boyfriend only wanted her for one thing...and hadn't been concerned about any unwanted results... 


But it moves into the recent past with startling action!

Cazzie Randle grabbed my heart and held on throughout the book... McCurry's story rings so true that we are worried and concerned and cheering her on with each step she takes to rebuild her life after being deserted over and over.

Leta tells her story so well that when changes start occurring, not only do we begin to cheer...but you may find yourself crying in happiness at some of the things that builds toward a totally unexpected, climatic ending... 




Holding both her hands, He sang La Paloma to her...
Fly little bird, go winging, 
and please lead her home safely to me. 
Cucurucucu… my love, love
~~~
Yes, you're right. This is a personal favorite... Highly recommended, and you're going to find I'm right!


GABixlerReviews



Tale-spinner. Revealer of secrets. A dog’s best friend. Cornbread and fried okra country girl.
Lives in Southern Oregon and enjoys writing, reading, the open road on a Stallion motorcycle (trike–as a passenger), good food, travel, genealogy, and a large, fun-loving family. Favorite destinations: Ireland and Singapore. Author of “High Cotton Country” and “A Shadow Life” and presently writing her third novel, “Dancing to the Silence.”

Leta says she loves the fascination of new characters and the fun of getting acquainted with them and seeing what they will do as the story develops. 

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