Janice Daugherty, Heir to the Everlasting

Heir to the Everlasting

Janice Daugherty

Bell Bridge (Belle Books), Feb 4 2011, $14.95

ISBN: 9781935661924

In South Georgia, the Big Eddy Plantation has thrived since Widow Pinkie Baxter Alexander began to manage her family estate circa 1900. She raises her four sons and a granddaughter May whose mother Minnie died in 2007 of malaria. Pinkie believes that May is the only one of her descendants with a backbone like hers. Buried on the planation is gold at least that is the rumor, but only Pinkie knows where and she takes it to the grave with her.

After Pinkie's death, May takes over running the Big Eddy. She is as determined as her late mentor grandma to keep the plantation afloat though the rivers and death of loved ones try to destroy her heritage. Like the late Pinkie did with her, May teaches her granddaughter Sara Ann the importance of keeping the Big Eddy alive and in the family. At the family cemetery on the planation, the gravestone of May's granddad needs replacing. As if Pinkie knew what her descendants needed, the two females find the secret that May's grandma took to the grave.

This is an entertaining century long epic that looks deep into the Alexander clan though predominantly three women. The story line brings to life South Georgia over the course of the twentieth century. The lead females are fully developed while the rest of the brood and the townsfolk enhance understanding the love the trio has for the land. Though there is some action and the mystery of the gold, Heir to Everlasting is a regional character study that showcases the lives of Southern women during a tumultuous century. This book is well worth reading

Harriet Klausner