Gods in Alabama author Joshilyn Jackson brings listeners/readers another southern literary tale.
Nonny Frett arrives in an earsplitting, yet secretive scene. Hazel Crabtree - a teen - tries to hide she’s
giving birth by running to a neighbor’s home. She gives birth in their entry way. Stacia Frett witnesses the birth
and believes Nonny is her gift from God. She’s deaf, lost her husband and is now losing her sight. Young,
self-absorbed Hazel, who fears her mother, gladly gives the baby to Stacia. The secret adoption is eventually
discovered and Nonny’s Crabtree grandmother, a vengeful old woman, makes life hard for the Frett Family.
The listener comes into the story when Nonny is grown, married ten years and going through a divorce. She’s an
ASL interpreter and lives in Athens Georgia, but problems often take her home to Between, Georgia. Nonny’s
character back tracks and highlights moments in her life with the crazy Crabtrees, her adopted mother Stacia’s
live-in interpreter, Aunt Bernese, and the soon-to-be ex-husband; then picks up with the present.
It's Southern drama, humor and redneck revelation at its best. Nonny is an amusing character. She loves her
adopted family unconditionally and dislikes her blood relatives just as much. But she doesn’t express herself with
selfness or hate. In fact, at some point listeners are bound to yell "Nonny! Get mad!" Jackson is an accomplished
writer with the wonderful gift of blending humor and misfortune. She’s also a writer with TWO bestsellers now.