Outstanding debut novel that should make the short list for book group selections. Three diverse women find their lives intertwined in the pre-Depression South. The character development is stellar. Each of them has a unique voice that clearly distinguishes one from the other. Without a doubt, the opening sentence will ambush you like a gator on the edge of the swamp. Readers who enjoyed "The Help" will also find this worth reading. Highly recommended.

A big thank you to Harlequin and Netgalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in South Carolina in the 1920s, three women from different backgrounds find themselves linked together. Family secrets, abuse and murder will haunt Gertrude, Retta and Annie. This moving story is told as a slow Southern tale with lots of characters. At times the characters were confusing. Times were different in the South in the 20s as readers will see through this novel.

This is a southern tale of the lives and unfortunate consequences of three very different women in the 1920’s. Annie, Gertrude and Retta, they all have very different circumstances but they love, support and depend upon each other. We follow their hardships and secrets. I most enjoyed Retta and O’Dell, they were a special couple full of love and goodness. Gertrude was a determined mother just trying to protect her children and Annie is the wife of a hardhearted man with secrets of his own.
The author’s research in this time frame was very well done, I learned quite a bit about the hard times of raising cotton and then switching to tobacco, plus the entrepreneurship of Lonnie and his mother in hiring women and creating a market for clothing.
This is a good story of how people hold together when times get tough but also covers how women were viewed and treated by the men in this era. If you enjoy historical fiction of the south around this timeframe, you might give this a try.
I’m giving it 4****’s. I was given an advanced copy from Harlequin – Trade Publishing Park Row and Net Galley for my honest review.

This is a stunningly beautiful book. Deb Spera writes about three families twined together by history, adversity, duty and love. Set in the South Carolina back country, the secrets that join and tear apart families are peeled back and unstintingly examined. Like the author, I travelled to South Carolina in the summers as a child, and feel the same love she does for its forests and estuaries. I applaud the piercing light she shines on the intricate and peculiarly southern social customs of this time and place.

My sincere thanks to the author, Deb Spera, the publisher, Park Row Books, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I couldn’t out this amazing book down. Call Your Daughter Home features the lives of three very different women in South Carolina in the early 1920’s. It’s easy to be so wrapped up in our own lives that we don’t realize what’s going on in those around us. Annie, Gertrude, and Oretta’s lives intersect in the story and their families have crossed paths for years. There are secrets and coverups throughout the story. I recommend this book.

3.5 STARS - Call Your Daughter Home is a Historical Fiction novel set in 1920's South Carolina in an area which recently suffered a devastating boll weevil infestation leaving cotton crops decimated. Only 50 years since the Civil War, and still a few years away from The Depression, author Deb Spera shows how these issues influence the lives of three women with vastly different backgrounds.

Reeta, a first-generation freed slave, Annie, a rich business owner and Gertrude, a poor mother of four girls, each take turns narrating the story. Their voices are strong and distinct, allowing them to share their different points of view as women living during this uncertain time as well as illustrate how the men in their lives greatly influence their experiences. Despite their differences in social status, these three women find strength, loyalty and a degree of friendship with each other.

The book has a slower pace and while the plot was somewhat predictable, readers will find the ending quite satisfying. The inclusion of interesting and varied secondary characters strengthens the story and provides readers with an interesting read that focuses on these three women whose love for their children, despite their differing experiences and hardships, push them onward.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 A impressive debut novel. Three women, different positions in life, find their Fates entwined with each other. Gertrude, who commits an act out of desperation, must find a way forward for her and her children. Annie, is the Matriarch of the leading family, there are things she needs to know but is unwilling to recognize. This unknowing has caused an estrangement between herself and her daughter, and the life of a son. Retta, has sorrows in her past, but she is the strongest, refuses to give ground when she knows she must put herself forward.

It is the 1930s, the boll weavel s have decimated the cotton crop. South Carolina has been hit hard by the depression and many are desperate. Diptheria rears its ugly head, adding another layer to their worry. These three women must find the strength to bring their families together, and we watch as they struggle and grow. Retta, was my favorite character, a black woman who has seen much, she does her best to bring the darkness into light. She senses things, sees spirits of those who have gone before. At times this borders on the dramatic, and almost too much is happening at the same time. Still, these characters made me care about them, and their stories were immersive. The history, the time period, the struggles personal and financial are all portrayed, drawing the reader into this fast paced story. The ending was beautiful, brought tears to my eyes. Another author to add to my list of favorites.

This was Angela, Esil and my monthly read. As always it is a joy to read with them and I appreciate their insights into the story.

ARC from Netgalley.

4.5 stars

Once in a while the opening sentence of a story is enough for me to know that I’ll be taken with it. “It’s easier to kill a man than a gator, but it takes the same kind of wait.” What a fantastic line and what an amazing debut novel. I don’t use the word atmospheric very often, but it’s hard to not describe this book in that way. This is rural South Carolina in 1924, devastated by boll weevils, hurricanes, the depressive economic time that the South experienced even before the Great Depression, but there are other struggles.

Spera introduces us to three women, each an unforgettable character in their own way. Three points of view skillfully depicted. Gertrude is a battered wife and mother of four young daughters . With a drunk for a husband, they live in squalor and they are starving. She has to dig deep to do what it takes to feed her daughters, to save them and make a life for them. Annie, a businesswoman in her own right, the wife of a man has committed horrible secret deeds, mother of five children, one dead by suicide, two sons and two estranged daughters has to face the reasons for the estrangement. Rettie is the daughter of a slave who works for Annie’s family and has lost a child as well. Rettie fast became one of my favorite literary characters with her strength, her goodness and what she does to help Gertrude and Annie.

I loved reading Spera‘s note at the end. While these three women are fictional characters, they were created with her grandmother and great grandmother in mind as well as her connections to this place in South Carolina. I will definitely be looking to see what she writes next. As always, it was wonderful to read this with my book buddies, Diane and Esil. This was a winner for all of us. Love when that happens.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Park Row/ HARLEQUIN through NetGalley.

A high 4 stars!

Call Your Daughter Home is a fabulously intense novel. Set in North Carolina in the 1920s, the story is told from the point of view of three very different women who’s lives intersect at pretty terrible times in their lives. Gertrude is a very poor white women, caught in a violent marriage, trying to figure out how to protect and feed her four daughters. Annie is part of the local gentry, married to a landowner with four living adult children, her two daughter being estranged. Oretta is an older black woman, who works for Annie, and who lost her only daughter many years earlier. Both Annie and Gertrude end up relying on Oretta to help them through some really hard times. I don’t want to say too much to avoid spoilers, but the title is definitely apt for one of the main themes in the book. The characters are great — they each have very distinct voices. Outside forces make their lives challenging, but, without being perfect, they draw on each other and deep wells of resilience to carry on. This is a great period piece and I gather it is based on stories from the author’s great grandmother and grandmother. I found it hard to put down and it definitely made me teary more than once. This was also a great book to read as a buddy read with Angela and Diane. Thanks to the publisher and the Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Do we get what we deserve or do we get what we get? "None of us gets what we deserve. We make the best of what we got." I think this quote is a great way to end this book which is packed full of injustices and retribution. Hold on for the ride because it is a bumpy one!

This was a really well written book and loved the characters. The plots were well immersed and definitely relevant to the time period. I liked that each of the three main characters had their own issues, however the stories united and still maintained the characters unique voice. I would like to read more from this author and will recommend this book to others. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

This book is beautifully written with complicated women as its narrators. It is, however, very dark. I couldn't finish it for that reason. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to these people and I was afraid for them and their families.
I did like the growth of the Sewing Circle as an industry. This was a time period I did not know much about.

I loved this book. The relationship between the three main characters was well developed and fascinationg. Will definitely recommend.

Take one southern town situated in South Carolina in the 1920's.Add in a boll weevil infestation with all the cotton crops destroyed. Mix in Retta, a strong minded religious ex slave, Anne,the mistress of a plantation whose husband had secrets it took a lifetime to uncover, and Gertrude,mother of 4 with an abusive husband who has left her in poverty with difficult decisions to reconcile. Stir vigorously and season with the Great Depression and you get one gorgeous novel about the strength of these women and the hardships and adaptations they must make to survive. The characters are fully defined, and it feels like we are taking the journey along with them. How they come together, each with their own separate "baggage", makes for a powerful statement about love, family and friendship. Do not miss this one.

A phenomenal story! Strong, strong women.
I've never given any book five stars but this one easily rates five. I was weeping from shared outrage (if you are a woman you'll know where in the story) in several places and rejoiced in the deep kindness at others. Being from the Deep South and having family who were farmers during this time, the struggles of these families felt like stories from my own family, minus what Mr. Cole and Alvin did/were. Though fiction, this book is based on real lives and situations. Be sure to read the author's comments at the end before putting away this great book!

This book is sure to become a best seller. Southern historical fiction at its finest. I loved everything about this book. The characters had depth and I actually cared about them. I enjoyed the three perspectives and how the women's lives intertwined with each other. The setting was so realistic. This is a writer that I will watch for. Incredibly talented! I will highly recommend this to my library patrons. Thanks Netgalley and publisher for ARC.

Gertrude, Retta and Annie are three unforgettable characters in this new book. All through this book you as the reader are heartbroken by their many problems. They seem unsolvable yet one by one these three women get control of their loves. It's heartwarming to see how they survive against the odds of their struggles.

From the first line to the last word, my heart and soul was drawn into the storie of 3 exceptional women, I love historical fiction and I was hoping for a good story, but what I got was beautiful prose that tells the tale of Retta who takes care of the Coles family, Annie, the matriarch of the Coles family and Gertrude, a woman who begins working for the Coles.
This book is one I will recommend over and over again for any reader who love a great tale and appreciates good writing.

Ms. Spera, please don't let this be your last book!!

Three strong women carry this novel and tell it in their own voices. Based in 1924 in the South, the characters are vivid and the writing makes you feel like you know these women. Gertrude, Retta and Annie are from different backgrounds and social standings. They weave you through their daily lives and what the circumstances bring. Gertrude is dirt poor with an abusive husband and children to look after. Annie is the wife of a plantation owner who is struggling to survive. She is very active in her son's fashion designing and has created a Sewing Circle employing local women. Retta is the black maid with a Christian heart and lives by the Golden Rule.
They will take you on their journey with several twists and the hardships they endured, psychologically and in class circumstances.
If you like to read about historical fiction, strong women and survival, you will enjoy reading this book.

Amazing debut novel. Deb Spera sets the scenes masterfully and you really feel like you are there with the three main characters and their families as well. The threads of the three disparate characters (poor white, working-class African-American shortly after slavery’s end, and privileged white) are woven together well. Either I am dense or the plotting was skillful because I did not see pivotal plot point coming, but when it was revealed the hairs actually stood up on the back of my neck. I didn’t want to put this down until it was finished. Definitely a recommended title for 2019. I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this!