Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2017
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
With a kick like the best hot sauce, this is the laugh-out-loud story of a girl determined to keep up with her aging, crazy-as-a-fox mother.
Willow Havens is ten years old and obsessed with the fear that her mother will die. Her mother, Polly, is a cantankerous, take-no-prisoners Southern woman who lives to chase varmints, drink margaritas, and antagonize the neighbors - and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the young modern mothers of their small conventional Texas town. She was in her late fifties when Willow was born, so Willow knows she's here by accident, a late-life afterthought. Willow's father died before she was born, her much older brother and sister are long grown and gone and failing elsewhere. It's just her and bigger-than-life Polly.
Willow is desperately hungry for clues to the family life that preceded her, and especially Polly's life pre-Willow. Why did she leave her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, fifty years ago and vow never to return? Who is Garland Jones, her long-ago suitor who possibly killed a man? And will Polly be able to outrun the Bear, the illness that finally puts her on a collision course with her past?
The Book of Polly has a great blend of humor and sadness, pathos and hilarity. This is a bittersweet novel about the grip of love in a truly quirky family and you'll come to know one of the most unforgettable mother-daughter duos you've ever met.
"This is a warm and fresh tale, made so by characters as varied as the evil Montessori-schooled twins next door, Willow's steadfast friend Dalton, and a Bible-thumping faith healer." - Publishers Weekly
"Replete with sparkling vitality and endearing warmth, this novel is for those who enjoy a spirited helping of Southern sass in their stories. For fans of Rebecca Wells's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." - Library Journal
"Classic elements of Southern comedy - evil twins, people dropping dead, a faith healer, a river-rafting trip - surround a lovable pair of central characters." - Kirkus
"The Book of Polly has heart and humor, revenge, forgiveness, redemption and a larger than life cast of pitch-perfect characters who bring to mind such Southern literary standard-bearers as Lee Smith and Fannie Flagg. Get ready to fall in love." - Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders
"I am wildly in love with The Book of Polly. Hepinstall's characters are so deeply drawn I could almost hear them breathing, and she has a gift for laying the hearts of even minor players open in a single sentence. This is a purely wonderful book about growing up, about growing old, about never going gently into any kind of night. I want everyone I ever met to read it." - Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of The Opposite of Everyone
"If you ever pined for a mother who would take a hunting falcon as her wingman to a parent-teacher conference, Polly is the gal for you. Delicious." - Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama
This information about The Book of Polly was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kathy Hepinstall was born in Odessa, Texas and was raised mostly in Spring, Texas, two hours from the Louisiana border, where most of her relatives still reside. She lives in Austin, Texas. Her first novel, The House of Gentle Men was published in 2000 and her second, The Absence of Nectar, was published in 2001. The House of Gentle Men was a finalist in the Penn Faulkner awards West and was featured on the LA Times Bestseller list. Her third novel, Prince of Lost Places, was published in 2003.
Hepinstall has also worked in advertising, both freelancing and working for several agencies in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Author Interview
Link to Kathy Hepinstall's Website
Name Pronunciation
Kathy Hepinstall: HEP-in-stall (rhymes with pep)
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
