GodPretty in the Tobacco Field Audiobook

Quotes

• “Beauty and sweetness weave a diaphanous fabric against the stark backdrop of poverty and cruelty.”

  — Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author

• “Portrays the impoverished life of the hill people with her images of the beauty yet hardship of the mountains as well as the way this particular world experienced discrimination in the sixties.”

  — New York Journal of Books

• “Filled with the music of Appalachia, the wrath-of-God discipline of a sinner trying to keep a youngster on the straight and narrow, and the bred-in-the-bone dignity of a downtrodden community…Fine Southern fiction.”

  — Historical Novels Review

• “A powerful coming-of-age story…Ms. Richardson’s portrait of the neighboring families’ hopeless lives stands out as one of the book’s major achievements. That achievement includes pitch-perfect representation of speech patterns and finely detailed views of the homes, the clothing, the food on the table, the family heirlooms, the body language, the facial expressions…[A] beautifully textured novel.”

  — Southern Literary Review

• “Contains beautifully drawn characters and honest, lyrical language. Through the author’s expressive dialogue and vivid descriptions, the textures of the rural Kentucky landscape—along with the aching emotions that come from RubyLyn—are felt. RubyLyn’s connection with Rainey is sweet, poignant, and tender…[A] powerful story.”

  — RT Book Reviews (4 stars)

• “Paints a picture of the hard life and bright dreams of young RubyLyn Bishop.”

  — Publishers Weekly

• “Setting is everything in this [YA] crossover novel of the poverty-stricken region RubyLyn calls home. The reader learns a great deal about the impact of President Johnson’s War on Poverty in rural Kentucky and, equally, about the place of women in that society in the late 1960s…RubyLyn and Rainey remain sympathetic characters for whom readers will wish a happy ending.”

  — Booklist