What readers think of Calling Me Home, plus links to write your own review.

A cross country car ride brings two unlikely friends closer than they thought possible. The story Miss Isabelle shares is a bittersweet tale that will move anyone who picks up the book. It's a great read and I recommend it.

Julie Kibler's story starts slowly. Two distinct personalities, races, & ages that seem so disimiliar that one wonders how this is going to come together, but come together it does, beautifully! I so enjoyed this novel & look forward to reading Ms. Kibler's works in the future. Four stars for Miss Isabelle & Dorrie!

Once I got into this book I really liked it. The 2 main characters interrelated so well even though their ages were far apart and being black and white. They were lovely to each other.

I never did guess the ending till I was all done with the book.

I will write some more in a little while.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I can not put it on my list of best books I ever read. The story was very nice and had a few small twists in it that weren't expected, but on a whole it was very predictable and maybe a little too nice. This book would go on my 'read in between heavy reading books' list. It was a very easy read and I got a picture in my mind of the two main characters that held true to the end. I would highly recommend this book for a summer or vacation read.

There weren't many surprises in this book; I could see most of the developments coming from a mile away. But I was OK with that, because I really cared about what happened to these characters. This is a book that deserves to be read, especially with regards to U.S. history of "sundown towns." And if you want to know more about this unfortunate side of our history, I suggest you follow this book with James Loewen's non-fiction "Sundown Towns."

In Shalerville, Kentucky in the 1920's, slaves were free but segregation remained. The sign at the beginning of town said, "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on you here in Shalerville".

Isabelle began a friendship with the black son of the family housekeeper as a young girl and it grew. Decades later Isabelle, now 90 years old, asks her young black friend and beautician Dorrie to drive her to a funeral in Cincinnatti. On this drive, through chapters by Isabelle and Dorrie, past and present, we learn of the history of the women and how their friendship affects them. Along the way, Isabelle, with some help by Dorrie do crossword puzzles with answers such as pensive and exquisite that become part of the story.

Their conversations and the people they encounter along the way are brilliantly written and brought me to tears before the end. Racism is a terrible thing and the author brings it to our attention so well.

Julie Kibler's debut novel tackles many themes common to Southern fiction: race relations; interracial marriage; family secrets; and unexpected friendship. The story is split between a present-day road trip from Arlington, Texas, to Cincinnati for 30-something Dorrie and almost-90 Isabelle, and a flashback to Isabelle's coming of age in the 1930s. Of particular interest is an explanation of the "sundown" law in Isabelle's small Kentucky town which prohibited blacks in town after dark. Interestingly, these laws were in no one limited to just the South but were found as far west as California in the 1930s. I like the way this book compared and contrasted race relations between Isabelle's "then" and Dorrie and Isabelle's "now," but - at the same time - there was something lacking for me and I never felt fully engaged. Despite this sentiment, I believe Julie Kibler is a fine writer and I look forward to reading her future books.

It is difficult to criticize a story whose subject and characters are so compelling.

I found the story to be well written, if occasionally overtold and often repetitious. The random crossword puzzle injections were welcome and pleasantly distracting.

However, the story itself was predictable. Within the first few pages, I easily anticipated what would happen next, in the same way we predict the next crisis of a good soap opera. As I read, I felt I was always 2-3 chapters ahead of the writer. This story has been told many times.

This is not to say that it is not an important story. However, I learned nothing that enhanced my interest or broadened my understanding of this dreadful piece of American history.

One final thought. The writer developed her main characters in terms of black and white (no pun intended. Isabelle, Robert, and Dorrie were presented as "all good". Dorrie's mother and brothers were presented as "all bad." A story told from the viewpoint of Cora and Nell, whose lifelong struggles of allegiance to two worlds, might have been a better read.