First line: I’m not sure at what young age I became frozen with the knowledge, certainty, and horror that my mother would die one day.

Summary: Shortly after Polly’s husband dies she learns that she is pregnant. Even more shocking is that she is 58 years old. When her daughter, Willow, grows up, she begins to have an intense fear that her strong willed mother will one day die. While searching for information about her mother’s past she stumbles upon some old letters. With the need to know, she begins to dig into the past in order to understand her mother before she loses her forever.

Highlights: Polly is a hilarious character. She smokes, drinks margaritas, gardens, bickers with her neighbors and shoots blanks out of her shotgun at the neighborhood squirrels. I like that there are intertwining plot lines throughout that slowly mesh into one at the end. This is a story of a family. It has the fears we all face. It has triumphs and downfalls. I laughed and was worried for Polly and Willow. I loved this friend, Phoenix. The way he cared for Polly and Willow without expecting anything. The ending where we find out the mystery of Polly was my favorite part. The mother/daughter trip down the river on a raft was a perfect conclusion to a Southern woman’s story.

Lowlights: Near the middle I was questioning finishing the book. There was a little lag as the story progressed and added details. However, I am happy that I stuck with it.

FYI: A very heartfelt read.

I received a free advance copy of this boik from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

the first half of this book is great. the writing style is a combo of exposition story telling and dialogue but unlike most books where description punctuates dialogue, here the dialogue punctuates the description and it works beautifully. it's really fun to read. polly and willows' voices are snappy, loving, and honest.

and then the Bear comes.

I don't have a good relationship with the Bear which has always led to an unfair stigma in books that feature it. I don't give them much of a chance. and it made me sad when all the interesting bits of the first half became subsumed with doctor visits and illness. when the focus is all on the Bear, everything else suffers.

the central mystery of the novel being polly's life BEFORE also felt kind of tacked on as a plot device a lot of the time. I generally did not care about it. I just wanted more fun stories about polly raising willow and neighborhood feuds. the conclusion to the mystery was also rushed and kind of unsatisfying.

there's more than one threat of underage rape too which was distressing and both times was brushed away and not discussed. like really? you're just going to throw these perverts into the storyline and then disappear them? I mean one got half drowned and one got shot a little but our heroes just ran away both times. I'd like to see some charges pressed, some jail time. some discussion with the teenage girl about justice, her safety, maybe some self defense lessons.

overall though, the characters and setting were wonderful, the polly/willow dynamic in particular was stellar. if you're interested in a mother/daughter, Southern influenced easy read I would definitely recommend this.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

After the death of her husband, 58 year old Polly finds herself pregnant and Willow is born. The novel is told through the voice of Willow, Polly’s 10 year old daughter, who is obsessed with her mother’s death, yet continues to fight and argue with her.

I liked it but I didn't love it.

3☆

I absolutely loved the beginning of this book. It was laugh out loud funny, witty and charming. The rest of the book was a little darker and sad but it all led to a great ending.

The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall--who was raised in Spring, Texas, according to her bio--is a quirky novel about a unique eccentric family in a small Texas town. When her husband, Captain, unexpectedly dies, life brings 58-year-old Polly a surprise. She learns that she is pregnant with her third child, Willow, just when her nest was empty and she thought she was entering a new phase in life. Polly takes it in stride, however, because she is a strong, sassy, and determined woman. She supports herself through her job as a checker at the local Walgreens, keeps up with her house and garden, carries on some hilarious feuds with her less than ideal neighbors, and raises her daughter, who turns out to have an equally strong will. The novel is told through the voice of her youngest daughter from the ages of 10-15. As Willow becomes a teenager, Polly enters her seventies and also enters a battle with the Bear ( cancer). Because Willow's mother is much older than her classmates' mothers, Willow worries about losing her mother before her mother is even diagnosed with the Bear. ( Polly smokes Virginia Slims and loves margaritas. ). Willow tells very tall tales about her mother at school, and in a memorable scene at the beginning of the novel, Polly ( to keep Willow from losing face ) goes to visit the counselor's office at Willow's school with a borrowed falcon on her shoulder, and remarks about her daughter, "It's not my fault that the gray of everyone else's stories makes the color stand out."  As Polly tells her older daughter at one point in the novel, ""Jesus isn't gonna help me with a teenager, Lisa. He was good with lepers and whores and blind people, but he can't cure the smart-ass years and you know it."  (The characters although endearing are rude and irreverent at times.) Polly loves her daughter, however: "Her love of babies - baby humans, cats, dogs, deer, even varmints - was the trump card laid on top of the others, and I could not help but imagine her doting over me when I was a baby, everything harsh drained from her like wax running off a candle, leaving only this maternal wick from which a knot of warm flame burned without faltering." As Willow becomes older, and her mother more frail, she realizes that Polly has a lot of secrets that she knows nothing about and is determined to uncover them. For instance, why has Polly never gone back to her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, for fifty years? And what is the real story about her mother's old beau, Garland, whom her mother has never mentioned? And who went to prison for murder for eight years? A road and raft trip back to visit a faith healer at Polly's hometown bring an unexpected ending to the novel.

This book will literary make you laugh and cry, or at least it did to me. The tale is told from the viewpoint of a young girl, Willow growing up with her elderly single mom, Polly. A near miracle happened when Polly got pregnant in her late fifties, unfortunately just finding out after her husband died. Willow has two older siblings, Lisa and Shel that appear in the story as well. Polly is quite the character, with a lot of spunk and curious sayings, and fully believes in feuds, particularly with neighbors.

Willow fears that her mom will die since she is so much older than other moms. Willow also tries to find out about her mom's secretive past, which lends a little bit of a mystery to the novel. Polly refuses to return to her small hometown in Louisiana and Willow must know. This doesn't take center stage to the novel, but a part. The main tale is the heart-warming story of this unique mother and daughter.


Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy prior to publication.

A thoroughly engaging, funny book that I was unable to put down. Will definitely purchase for our library and recommend!

The Book of Polly is the imaginative story of a girl who grows up with a mother old enough to be her grandmother. The highlight of the book is the vivid characters, whose antics often caused me to laugh out loud. Everyone can relate to having weird friends and relatives that drive you crazy as much as you love them. More than anything, The Book of Polly is a story about family and the things we will do for the ones we love.

A funny story! A fun read, but not book group quality.

Easy read for women fiction readers. Patrons that like Fannie Flagg and Debbie Macomber will enjoy.

Beautifully written and darkly funny, The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall had me laughing out loud and wearing out the highlight function on my Kindle. Loved it !