Miss Fannie Mae's Girls by Larry Batchelor

      

       This is the story of Fannie Mae and how her past contrasts with her present.  When she was five in 1922 in Oglethorpe, Georgia her father Buck Jessup “mysteriously” disappeared after a few notable Klan members showed up at his house.  Buck was able to save his wife and daughter by sending them to the shed.  Fannie Mae then grew up to be a strong black woman in a town that didn’t necessarily allow for such a thing.  She eventually married and had 5 daughters:  Belle, Nettie, Rosalie, Christine, and Elenora.  On New Year’s 2009, Fannie Mae passed as the fireworks went off.  This brought all her daughters and nephew, Marshall son of Rosalie, together for the first time in a long time.  And though it was a time of grief, what Fannie Mae left behind enabled the girls to join together as a family and create a time of happiness and togetherness.
                Throughout this book I cried, and laughed, and frowned, and laughed some more.  It’s a lighthearted yet hearty book that digs into a little southern town and what a long way it’s come, and what a long way it has to go still.  As an extra bonus, there’s an amazing cookbook at the end filled with delicious recipes that I can’t wait to start working on!  The language is honest and clear, though sometimes a little annoying because there was a lot of repetition of full names and locations and such.  But it wasn’t enough to keep me from thoroughly enjoying this read.

4 stars

I received a copy of this book for the purpose of review.