Joshilyn Jackson Between, Georgia

Between, Georgia

Joshilyn Jackson

Warner, Jul 2006, $22.99

ISBN: 0446524425

The family feud has simmered on the back burner of BETWEEN, GEORGIA heating up at times over the past three decades plus since it started with the birth of Nonny Jane, who has Crabtree DNA but was raised by Fretts. Recently the squabble has not been overtly hostile though the grudge remained just below the surface until Ona Crabtree's ferocious Doberman attacks Genny Frett. Now once again the ninety residents must take sides as the anarchic Crabtree and affluent Frett kin prepare for war with only Nonny Jane, who has a foot in each armed camp, seeking peace.

Nonny learns about the dog incident so she races to her nearby hometown to try to prevent hostilities from escalating. When she arrives in Between, Nonny Jane is yanked by her biological family who loathes that one of them abandoned her to her adopted family who detests that she has the wrong blood inside her. However, this time the feud seems even more acrimonious than ever as the already crazy matriarchs on both sides act like vampires needing to feed. Nonny tries her best, but she also has a flash temper and her record of harmonious relationships stand at zero. Is she adding fuel or water to the fire?

This is a pleasant regional contemporary tale starring a heroine who feels that she is tied to two mules pulling her in opposite directions. Nonny Jane knows that her two families share so much more in common as she realizes her temper and skill at holding onto a grudge comes from both sides; professionals especially at keeping a rancor warm and welcome. The cast is eccentric with several seemingly playing solitaire with a deck of fifty-one marked cards as Joshilyn Jackson writes an impudent witty southern drama.

Harriet Klausner