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Library | Audience | Home Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Freed-Montrose | Adult | Fiction | Book | VILLA | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Ella Dubose is a Southern lady of a certain age. By turns charming and ornery with deep wells of sadness and regret, she is a delicate force of nature. And while her two younger children are thinking about limiting her freedom and mobility, she's determined to continue to run her own life as long as she is able. So Ella sets out on a road trip with her long-time companion, Goldie, to a beloved seaside resort where she will meet up with her oldest son Tyler -and with the ghosts of her past. There, Ella will also encounter a gentleman who will renew her faith in romance. And with wilfulness and southern grit intact, Ella may just try for a last stab at happiness.
Author Notes
James Milton Villas was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 10, 1938. He received a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and a doctorate in Romance languages and comparative literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He taught French Romanticism at the University of Missouri and Rutgers University before switching careers.
After several of his freelance articles were accepted by food and travel magazines, he was hired as an assistant editor at Esquire. He was the food and wine editor of Town & Country magazine from 1972 until 1999. He wrote 12 cookbooks including My Mother's Southern Kitchen: Recipes and Reminiscences, Pig: King of the Southern Table, and Southern Fried: More Than 150 Recipes for Crab Cakes, Fried Chicken, Hush Puppies, and More. He won four James Beard Awards for his prolific and tart commentary in books and magazines. He also wrote a memoir entitled Between Bites: Memoirs of a Hungry Hedonist and several novels including Dancing in the Lowcountry, Hungry for Happiness, and Love Dog. He died on August 17, 2018 at the age of 80.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A journey to Myrtle Beach, S.C., gives an elderly Southern mother the heartrending opportunity to share a painful, long-held secret with her gay son in Villas's eloquent fiction debut. The veteran food and wine writer (My Mother's Southern Kitchen) concocts a savory dish in Ella Dubose, a feisty 73-year-old widow who smokes, drinks, carries a gun in her purse and does what she wants, when she wants--just so long as Goldie Russell, her Cherokee companion, is riding shotgun. While vacationing at a seaside inn, and waiting for her famous author son to join them, Ella stumbles on a romantic surprise, vacationing Yankee Dr. Edmund O'Connor. When her son, Tyler, does arrive, Ella yearns to tell him about his real father--not her husband, Earl Dubose, father of Tyler's two siblings--but a Jewish WWII veteran driven to suicide. Tyler, however, also has a secret and a struggle of his own. Villas depicts Ella's dilemma and relationships with flair and a perceptive eye, capturing the Low Country's nostalgic allure with loving skill. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Verdict: From paternity issues and suicide to homosexuality and cancer, this book is filled to the brim with skeletons in closets and cathartic confessions. Aging Southern belle Ella Dubose grapples with a ghost from her past and the pressure from her children to relinquish some of her freedoms. Villas's debut novel is recommended for public libraries. Background: This book of Southern secrets introduces readers to aging spitfire Ella Dubose and her sons, Tyler and Earl Junior, and the taciturn Goldie. As the story develops, the reader encounters the ghosts haunting these characters and the impact their past has on the present. A great book for book clubs, this novel provides numerous discussion possibilities on a variety of big issues and the interconnectedness of people's lives and choices without being discouraging or heavy. Quite to the contrary, Ella and her escapades, no matter how important, tend toward saccharin sweet.--Dora Wagner, Northwestern Coll. Lib., Saint Paul, MNÅ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
