“You can’t go home again,” wrote Thomas Wolfe famously. I pondered this axiom as I sat glued to the pages of LEARNING TO SPEAK SOUTHERN, a sprawling tale about Lex and her troubled return home to Memphis.

Author Lindsey Rogers Cook is a storyteller par excellence, both here and in her work as Senior Editor, Digital Storytelling, NYT. She elegantly unfolds character and narrative as she gently reels you in, keeping you rapt.

Lex fled Tennessee to escape painful memories of her mother’s untimely death. Years later, she’s yanked back after an urgent phone call from her godmother.

I really related to Lex’s journey, which allowed her to better “get” her mother by reading her journals, and coming to a new sense of family, whether by blood or choice. And oh my, what an ending!

5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 01 Jun 2021
#learningtospeaksouthern #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks Landmark for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

Warning - this is not a light and fluffy book about living in the South! It is an interesting novel about a seriously dysfunctional family, living in Memphis, and a supportive family of choice.
As the book opens, Lex is 27, in Bali, broke, having given birth to a stillborn child and getting dumped by the baby daddy. She speaks multiple languages, and has spent the last 5 years traveling throughout the world to escape her life and family in Memphis.
Lex is also very angry and now that she’s back in Memphis, her focus is on how she can escape. Through a clever plot twist, she gradually learns more about her parents (and their history).
Learning to Speak Southern is a book about revisiting the past to try and understand your present, and the possibilities for your future. The first chapter was confusing to me and I didn’t think the linguistic elements that were periodically thrown in added much. But, Margaret’s story and the ending moved the book from 3-4 stars for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read Learning to Speak Southern in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com today.


After years of fleeing from place to place, Lex finds herself in a hospital in Bali without many choices. Her ex-boyfriend wants to reach out to someone for her, and Lex blurts out that he can reach out to her godmother. With no other choices, Lex is forced to accept her godmother’s help and that includes moving back to Memphis.

Lex had never planned to go back to Memphis, but here she is, staying with the godmother she wished had been her real mother. Lex never understood her mother, or thought that her mother had really wanted her. Lex had always fled to her godmother, Cami’s, for sanctuary. Now that she’s back and her mother has passed, it’s time for Lex to find out the real story. Cami has a stack of letters from Lex’s late mother that she will give to Lex as she deems fitting. So through the old journals of her mother and Cami’s letters, Lex may finally find a way to understand her family and find her way home.

Loved every minute of this book. Lex’s story was so compelling. Traveling the world is something most people dream of. But Lex’s reasons for doing it are not the same as most. This story has a lot of tragic elements, people facing up to decisions they’ve made and facing some demons as well. It delves into emotions and how we justify our actions to ourselves.

Lindsey Rogers Cook is a fabulous storyteller. She exceeded at weaving together all the pieces of this novel. The characters are multi-dimensional. I definitely want to read her previous novel now that I’ve had a taste of her writing.

Sorry to say this one wasn’t for me. Quite lost from the first pages on what exactly was happening and why. I derived that a young lady had just lost a baby and was being sent back to America, but I felt just thrown into the story without an anchor. DNF.

Lex has spent the last years traveling the world, teaching English and learning new languages. Things have just gone very badly for her- she not only had a still birth, the father of their baby deserted her- so she's come home to Memphis to regroup and deal as well with the death of her mother. She had a tortured relationship with Margaret and always ran to her godmother Cami for solace. Now, Cami has promised to let her in on her mother's secrets and doles out one letter a day to Lex. No spoilers from me but know that Lex discovers there was much more to her mother, and her family, that she ever knew. Some of this territory might feel familiar but there's a twist and Cook has a nice way of evoking a certain Southern lifestyle. Yes, Lex and her family are privileged in many ways but there's an emotional element that's important. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I was a fan of Cook's debut novel, which I think might have been stronger but this is also a very good read.

A swing….and a miss. I was so excited and engaged at first, but around 20% it just lost me. The tension between the mother and daughter seemed choreographed, and the main character is unlikeable. The pacing starts out really well, and then slams on the brakes for no discernible reason. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved the clever title of this book and i love southern stories but this one got off to a bad start for me. It felt like things were happening and I didn’t understand what or why for several more pages, then there more questions than answers. The linguistic references were nice but unfortunately just added to my confusion. So, for me, it started to feel disjointed and hodgepodge and i just couldn’t finish after reading a quarter of the book. It wasn’t for me, for now, but maybe it will be your cup of tea.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to the chance to read.

What worked in Cook’s previous book, How To Bury Your Brother, doesn’t work quite as well in this one. Lex was a difficult character to like and the story never really took off for me. While a well written book, the final twist has been done before and it’s one I’m not overly fond of. A story of overcoming and family that leaves us with hope by the final pages.

I so enjoyed this book! It drew me in and I was done! I loved the family drama side of it! Very interesting and intriguing.
The characters felt real and I totally connected with them.
The story I just absolutely loved and enjoyed diving deeper into Memphis and Lex's story!
Thank You NetGalley Sourcebooks Landmark and author for this beautiful ebook copy!

Learning to Speak Southern
Lindsey Rogers Cook
June 1, 2021

Alexandra Henry was the only child of Margaret Henry and her father, Dennis. Margaret was arrogant and nasty, always trying to make her plan one for Lex and Dennis to follow. After college and her parents death, Lex traveled around the world to different locations teaching English to students. She is a linguist. She knew many different languages, studied them. Her past times were caught up in word and word meanings. Her mother’s best friend through high school, Cami was a strong surrogate parent in her life. When she and Margaret argued, Lex would run off to live with Cami. Her father would come to settle things. He would always maintain that her mother only wanted the best for her. When Lex came home from her stint abroad, her plans were to move into Cami’s home and hunt for work in Memphis. It wasn’t her favorite place. The odd ways that people expressed their views annoyed her but she would need to work through it. Cami welcomed her by bribing her with installments of her mother’s diaries.
Cook’s literary journal gives us a long, complex view of the Henry family. Her work is well written although intense and confusing when relating Lex’s struggle and Margaret’s hidden life.
Learning to Speak Southern by Lindsey Rogers Cook will be published by Donald Maass Literary Agency of Sourcebooks Landmark on June 1, 2021. Her latest book is a work of literary fiction. I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read and review Learning to Speak Southern via NetGalley. My review is my opinion and I encourage readers who enjoy works of women’s fiction to read this novel.

It was very hard for me to get into this book. I found the characters hard to relate to, and the writing was very erratic and confusing. I’m sure others will love it, but it wasn’t a fit for me.

Never got into it. I tried but the writing is way out there. Never understood where the protagonist was coming from. I know she lost a baby but couldn't go from the onset. . And I hate that. I'm southern and couldn't figure out where this was headed. Maybe I stopped too soon.

The character development was great. Good story and lots of wonderful surprises. I highly recommend this book!

I really enjoyed reading this book, the linguistics parts alone had me enthralled. Like our protagonist, Lex, I love language and words. It was so beautiful to read about word origins and meanings in the different languages, I loved learning about them.

What first drew me to this story was the word southern in the title. I am a lover of southern fiction and this book did not disappoint. I liked the format of Lex reading about her mother with a different letter/journal entry every day. I love epistolary novels and these letters were my favourite part of the book. Margaret’s story transported me back in time to another place. I love when books do that. I also appreciated Margaret’s friendship with Cami and how Cami looks after Lex like she is her own. Strong, southern women looking out for each other.

Lindsey Rogers Cook is a master at developing characters that crawl into your heart and stay. When you get to the end of this book, you really miss these charismatic, quite real people. Ms. Rogers Cook is a gifted writer who knows how to weave in twists and turns that keep the reader captivated to the last page. I highly recommend this clever tale of Lex and her mother and the circumstances that brought about their tenuous relationship.

Thank you so much Sourcebooks Landmark for granting my wish to read this book!

Perhaps I am biased since I live in TN, but the atmosphere and setting of this story sold me within the first 30 pages or so. I love family dramas/redemptions, and this reminded me a lot of Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe (this is a big compliment) in terms of family conflict. I think this will sell extremely well. Eloquent, charming, and a lovely ending.

I was really excited to read Learning To Speak Southern, being from the south I love anything that has a Southern influence to it. The story is a family drama , which mainly hits on the bond that a mother and daughter have with each other.
Lex comes back to Memphis after her mother dies and learns several family secrets her mother had kept hidden from her.

For the most part the story that Lindsey Rogers Cook weaves is excellent, however I still found that the book left me a bit flat. I was not fond of Lex at all, she came off a bit spoilt and whiny. I was much more interested in her mother Margaret's story than I was hers. Lex seemed full of negativity and stereotypes. There were moments however, where the witt of Cook's writing really shined through, I just wish there had been more.

To be completely honest, this is a book that I thought I would love, but I actually felt pretty let down after reading it. I understand the main character being multilingual, and I could have even loved that, if there hadn't been so many crazy things all jumbled together in this book at the same time. I also didn't appreciate the stereotyping and negativity displayed by the main character. How many American slurs can you throw into one book? Quite a few, apparently.

Parts of the story were interesting, and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to read it. The cover is also quite lovely, but this book just wasn't for me. Please give it a read and draw your own conclusions. The author is witty, and obviously intelligent. The characters were not my thing.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in a complimentary Kindle copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was intrigued by the premise of this story but it was not what I expected. I know that Lex knew multiple languages but I found the phrases in different languages scattered throughout annoying. Lex was not very likeable and was irritating. Not my type of book.

As in so many cases I was lured to this book due to the description. However, the book did not live up to my expectations. The writing was very jumbled and hodge podge. The main character suffers a major tragedy in the opening pages and seems indifferent. She’s multilingual but the sprinkles so many different phrases so often it’s a distraction and quite frankly detracted from the story. This one wasn’t for me.

Learning to Speak Southern is a southern fiction book of family, secrets, and plenty of drama. Lex seems to have had a love/hate relationship with her mother while growing up. She leaves Memphis after the death of her mother and returns several years later. Her mother's childhood best friend Cami tries to keep her to stay in Memphis by giving a letter written by her mother each day. The truths revealed are life changing. This is a fabulous book. Thanks to the author Lindsey Rogers Cook, publisher SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for a honest review.