Iry Paret's done this time -- two years for manslaughter in Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary. Now the war vet and blues singer is headed to Montana, where he hopes to live clean working on a ranch owned by the father of his prison pal, Buddy Riordan. In prison, Iry tinkered with a song -- "The Lost Get-Back Boogie"--That never came out quite right. Now, the Riordan family's problems hand him a new kind of trouble, with some tragic consequences....

This often sweet, occasionally angry, but mostly hilarious true story of one Southern woman's swim through the murky waters of marriage and divorce is a quirky gem. Judy Conner refers to her former husband simply as "That X," which is perfectly understandable considering some of the antics he pulled. Although the stories of her X are sometimes humiliating, they are always funny. And Conner makes one thing perfectly clear. She and her X shared a love-albeit...

The move from New Jersey to Hilton Head, South Carolina, wasn't easy for the Russo family--difficult enough for Big Al and Connie, but even harder for their daughter Maria Graziella, who insists on being called Grace. At thirty-one and still, shockingly, unmarried, Grace has scandalized her staunchly traditional Italian family by moving in with her boyfriend Michael--who, though a truly great guy, is agnostic, commitment-phobic, a scientist, and (horror...

When Daniel Musgrove's troubled family moves to Mississippi just before his junior year, he is appalled. On top of the usual teenage humiliations, he now has to learn to say "y'all" and "Co-Cola" or risk being ostracized as a Yankee. But Daniel's loneliness fades when he meets fellow outsider Tim Cousins. You only need one best friend, he figures, to make it through high school alive. Daniel and Tim become inseparable, sharing a fascination with ridicule,...

“McCrumb draws you close, makes you care.” —Los Angeles Times

Racing fans have never seen anything like it—and they've seen plenty—the first all-women's team in stock-car racing history. Already a national sensation, the spotlight heats up when financial challenges force Team 86 to hire a male “wheel man.”

And Badger Jenkins is a man all right—a sweet-faced Georgian who oozes aw-shucks charm off the track

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Growing up in Warner Robins, Georgia, with her parents--and their loving but rocky relationship--isn't always easy for Lauretta. It doesn't help that the rest of her family is a who's who list of misfits and petty criminals. Learning from them and their experiences, Lauretta develops a keen wit and an observant eye, talents she then takes on the road to Savannah and even to Europe. There she encounters even more oddballs and colorful characters--many...

For years, Jitty, Dahlia House's resident ghost, has dreamed that Sarah Booth Delaney would have a child. It looks like Jitty's dream will finally come true, and Sarah Booth is crushed when it doesn't. Depressed, Sarah Booth finally allows her best friend to whisk her away for a luxurious weekend vacation at a special spa and cooking school. The pampering and food go a long way toward making her feel like her old self, but there's another welcome...

The Dahlias become suspicious of the newest visitors to Depression-era Darling, Alabama, rumored to be the Naughty and Nice Sisters from the Ziegfeld Frolic, who specialize in dancing nearly naked, and dig for the truth when one of the pair denies the association.

"Sarah Booth Delaney is heartbroken: her fiancé Graf Milieu has decided to move to Hollywood permanently, leaving their relationship in shambles. Sarah Booth has a perfect distraction, however, in the form of the Black and Orange Halloween ball her best friends are throwing in New Orleans. Sarah Booth plans to dance the night away to the swinging tunes of her old flame Scott Hampton's blues band. But just as the party gets going, Scott receives a...