Books I've read this week - The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder © 2009 by Rebecca Wells, author of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I won this from Bookin’ with Bingo. Thanks Karen!

About the book: “ The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily’s life set in Wells’ expanding fictional Louisiana landscape. In the small river town of La Luna, Calla bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for. Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood – until it is cut short. Her mother, M’Dear, a woman of rapture and love, teaches Calla compassion, and passes on to her the art of healing through the humble womanly art of “fixing hair.” At her mother’s side, Calla further learns that this same touch of hands on the human body can quiet her own soul. It is also on the banks of La Luna River that Calla encounters sweet, succulent first love, with a boy named Tuck.

But when Tuck leaves Calla with a broken heart, she transforms hurt into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans to study at L’Academie de Beaute’ de Crescent. In that extravagant big river city, she finds her destiny – and comes to understand fully the power of her “healing hands” to change lives and soothe pain, including her own. When Tuck reappears years later, he presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love. But who knows how Calla Lily, a “daughter of the Moon Lady’, will respond?

A tale of family and friendship, tragedy and triumph, loss and love, The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder features the warmth, humor, soul, and wonder that have made Wells one of today’s most cherished writers, and gives us an unforgettable new heroine to treasure.”

I felt Ms. Wells did an excellent job capturing the feel of the 1950s and ‘60s south in a small town. This book has a lot of emotion running through it and the author made the most of it, especially the sad parts. There were a lot of those but the book is ultimately about Calla’s ability to overcome the obstacles thrown in her way. I'm not sure Calla's 'healing hands' were any more magical than any good hairdressers. (Don't you just love it when they wash your hair and massage your scalp?) It was a good summer reading book.