Feral, North Carolina, 1965

Set in the rural Deep South in 1965, during a time of strict gender norms, ultraconservative religion and racial tensions, especially at the beginning of the integration, Willie Mae is just an ordinary, curious, mischievous, if not somewhat feral 10-year-old girl trying to entertain herself during a sweltering summer. She asks too many questions, is shooed away from adult business and only catches scraps of news and gossip hinting at bigger issues through open windows. Just following her through her life makes the read worthwhile, painting rich, cinematic pictures full of childhood nostalgia and adventure, similar to Stephen King's The Body and The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, that makes readers sigh over their own memories. The writing is sublime and evocative of that old Deep South charm which is rich and deeply enjoyable as long as you remain blissfully ignorant of its underbelly. But it's this what sets the scene for what is about to develop, and the stark awakening Willie will go through that shatters the world as she knows it. A perfect read for fans of The Help, The Secret Life of Bees and To Kill a Mockingbird.





idyllic, almost oblivious childhood trying to entertain herself

Like To Kill a Mockingbird, Feral, North Carolina, 1965, captures a Small Town South as a time and place with precision and a kind of brutal grace. Willie is a tomboy learning about life from eavesdropping and observation, and her outlook could be compared with Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. An enthralling, yet troubling book, it reads like a series of short stories--which in fact it is if one looks at how many chapters have been published as short stories. The writing is rich with language and telling details, and it's clear that the author's talents as a poet have carried over to her debut novel.

I will post the rest of the review and the link when Southern Literary Review publishes my review. I will also post at Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, and Bookbub. A charming book that I read eagerly in one day--it's that good.

This is not the type of book which I normally read. However, I found it quite enjoyable. It was a quick read with each chapter almost a mini-short-story.

A quick read, with each chapter almost a stand-alone short story about a country child growing up in rural North Carolina. She's a bit untamed herself, and gets herself into challenging situations, without real harm - just an increased awareness of the attitudes of the people around her. There's a lot to relate to, if you were a child in the 60s, even if you didn't grow up in rural North Carolina.

Despite the underlying elements of racial tension, girls who get in trouble, and an uneasy relationship with church folks, this book still has elements of charm.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was one of my favorite summer reads. Loved the characters, loved the storyline. Look forward to reading more by this author.

I loved the way the author of this novel weaved childhood stories with the darker aspects of the time period and how they affected the protagonist of this story 10 year old Willa Mae. Growing up in a fundamentalist christian house in a small toen in the 60's Willa Mae has a happy but strict childhood in which she has many adventures. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC of this book.

'It’s a project I have, trying to get grown-ups to talk about things they won’t tell kids. You have to sneak up on it, come at it sideways- if you straight out ask, they’ll send you outside to play, or if it’s night time, tell you to say your prayers and get to bed. That’s true most of the time anyway.'

Feral, North Carolina, 1965 is a coming of age about a little girl who is all fire and spit! She isn’t a good girl, not if it means being neat and delicate. None of your beeswax doesn’t apply to Ten-year-old Willie Mae, she is nosy and incredibly perceptive. She longs to burrow beneath the surface, to seek out every family secret, but has no qualms about spying on her neighbors either. What else is there to do but hop on your back and see what sort of fun you can rustle up? She is a child with ants in her pants, far too much spirit and lord but it sometimes seems like the very devil has her ears.

In the 60’s children weren’t bombarded with knowledge with the click of a mouse. The adults didn’t barrage them with answers to every question. That naivete is long gone, children were in the dark and if they were good little darlings, they held fast that ‘mother and father know best’. If you were a feral child, you resorted to any means you could invent to uncover mysteries. Curiosity killed the cat may apply to someone like Willie Mae, but she is witty enough to realize cats have nine lives and all the fun happens in secret!

Long stretches are spent in the company of her beautiful grandmother, Birdy. Birdy who loves to talk of the past, especially about her charismatic, handsome, beloved older brother Billy until Willie comes around, as she always does, to the subject of his death. Then it’s the silence of a grave. It’s burning inside of her, to know how someone could die so young… why, why won’t Birdy tell her how he died! Sure it was a tragedy that occurred before her birth, decades ago, in dusty olden days, but he is still family, surely she has the right to know? Why, why won’t Willie Mae let the dead rest? Too curious for her own darn good!

Willie Mae will fight dirty when she has to, like dealing with her big brother Dare, whom everything is a competition against. She may be a girl, but she is just as strong as him, just as fast! All her mother wants is for her to act like a little lady, but that just ain’t her way! It’s all dolls and frills when she wants to be like her brother, shooting at living creatures, why do boys get to do all the fun stuff?

God fearing children do not spy on others. They sure don’t know what happens between a woman and a man. Aunt Etta wants Willie Mae and Dare to be ‘witnesses for the lord’ because it’s certainly the end of days. “Half the time I didn’t care that I was a sinner, but I kept it secret.” It’s so hard to be a perfect, good little girl when so much action calls to your soul.

Death, racism, family secrets, God, sex, and nature are just a few things that occupy Willie Mae’s thoughts. She has so many questions bubbling inside of her. Maybe Willie Mae isn’t the only free spirit ever born into her family. Maybe she isn’t the only one who had to be tolerated. This is childhood, the lull before one’s rough edges are smoothed. Ten, a time when the secrets you poke at and prod change the way you see the world, and more importantly, your family. The world spins, and it is changing too, the old folks need to get used to it!

This is a time that no longer exists, children running through the streets at play, wild little savages with scabby knees and snarls in their hair. There was an ugly side too with racial divides, children caught in the middle of the confusion. Clinging to old ways, what happens when someone is ‘different’ be it skin color or something else, something that isn’t tolerated. The bigger issues are always just above a child’s head, but they feel the wrongness of things, we see that with Willie Mae and her ever questioning mind. I enjoyed that Willie Mae sounds like a child, she can be a nasty little whip of a thing and sweet in the center, children really are neither good nor bad. Like all of us, they sway between the two.

Yes, read it.

Publication Date: September 17, 2019

SFK Press

I really enjoyed this quick read. Even though I’m a child of the 1980’s I could relate to 10 year old Willie. So much of this story brought back memories of my own childhood. Being raised in a Pentecostal family, the constant awareness of biblical knowledge and worldly thoughts were pervasive in my own youth.