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Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship
Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow.
Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.
Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship. They are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son’s irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her.
Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family's housekeeper—in a town where blacks weren’t allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own way.
"In Calling Me Home, Kibler has crafted a wholly original debut. . . . There’s no denying the pull of Kibler’s story." —Booklist
"A rousing debut about forbidden love and unexpected friendships. . . . In this compelling tale, Kibler handles decades of race relations with sensitivity and finds a nice balance between the characters of Dorrie and Isabelle. Drawing from her own family history in Texas, Kibler relays a familiar story in a fresh way.” —Publishers Weekly
"This is deeply affecting coming-of-age story with radiant characters who will remain with the reader long after the last page is turned." —Romantic Times
“You’d never guess that Calling Me Home is a debut novel, Julie Kibler’s writing is so wise and assured. Although the two strong women she’s created come from completely different backgrounds, the bond that grows between them is extraordinary, touching and believable. I laughed out loud in places and had tears in my eyes as I turned the last page. I can’t wait to watch Julie Kibler’s star rise!” –New York Times bestselling author Diane Chamberlain
"Clear your schedule before you open up this thoroughly engaging book. CALLING ME HOME is a story about love in its many incarnations—in romance, friendships, and families; loves lost, and love regained. Kibler illuminates racial tensions many of us don’t realize still exist in this country, and shows how small acts of faith can make big inroads to acceptance. I closed the final page with a smile and a tear, humbled and eager to embrace life." - Margaret Dilloway, author of How to Be an American Housewife
"Pop some corn and grab a hankie before you start CALLING ME HOME because you won't want to put it down until you come to the end of this true journey of the heart." - Carleen Brice, author of Orange Mint and Honey
"Calling Me Home is a tenderly wrought story of love and secrets, heartbreak and healing, and the remarkable power of friendship to heal two women who find each other across the lines of time, generation, and race. Julie Kibler has written an original and moving debut novel that will linger with you for a long, long time." —Barbara O'Neal, The Garden of Happy Endings
“Julie Kibler grabbed me on the very first page and didn’t let go…What a marvel of a debut novel. Black and white, young and old, searching and missing and finding in each other a special understanding, companionship, and love, these characters are real and addictive. Calling Me Home was keenly conceived, impeccably plotted, and beautifully written.” –Barbara Delinsky, New York Times bestselling author of Escape and Not My Daughter
“Touching and unforgettable, Julie Kibler’s CALLING ME HOME is the kind of story that pulls you in from page one, grips your heart and absolutely won’t let go.” —Sarah Jio, author of The Violets of March and The Bungalow
"Calling Me Home is journey into the heart where secrets hide and love reigns. Across the bridge of race and generation, Julie Kibler brings together two who profoundly influence each other as they reveal their stories and their heartbreak. With a stunning plot twist, Kibler reminds the reader that things aren't always as they appear and love has its own life." —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Coming Up For Air
"If Julie Kibler's novel Calling Me Home were a young woman, her grandmother would be To Kill a Mockingbird, her sister would be The Help and her cousin would be The Notebook. But even with such iconic relatives, Calling Me Home stands on her own; this novel uncovers a painful past that tells us so much about who we are, where we're going, and the people who are traveling with us." –Wiley Cash, New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home
1
Miss Isabelle, Present Day
I ACTED HATEFUL to Dorrie the first time we met, a decade or so ago. A person gets up in years and she forgets to use her filters. Or she’s beyond caring. Dorrie thought I didn’t care for the color of her skin. No truth to that at all. Yes, I was angry, but only because my beauty operator—hairdresser they call them these days, or stylist, which sounds so uppity—left with no notice. I walked all the way into the shop, which is no small effort when you’re old, and the girl at the counter told me my regular girl had quit. While I stood there blinking my eyes, fit to be tied, she studied the appointment book. With a funny smile, she said, “Dorrie has an opening. She could do you almost right away.”
Presently, Dorrie called me over, and certainly, her looks surprised me—she was the only African-American in the place, as far as I could tell. But here was the real problem: change. I didn’t like it. People who didn’t know how I liked my hair. People who made the cape too tight around my neck. People who went away without any warning. I needed a minute, and I guess it showed. Even at eighty, I liked my routine, and the older I get, the more it matters. Picture me now at almost ninety. Ninety. I’m old enough to be Dorrie’s white-haired grandmother. And then some. That much is obvious. But Dorrie? She probably doesn’t even know she’s become like the daughter I never had. For the longest time, I followed her from salon to salon—when she wouldn’t settle down and stay put. She’s happier now, has her own shop these days, but she comes to me. Like a daughter would.
We always talk when Dorrie comes. At first, when I met her, it was just the regular stuff. The weather. News stories. My soap operas and game shows, her reality TV and sitcoms. Anything to pass the time while she washed and styled my hair. But over time, when you see the same person week after week, year after year, for an hour or more, things can go a bit deeper. Dorrie started talking about her kids, her crazy ex-husband, and how she hoped to open her own shop one day, then all the work that entailed. I’m a good listener.
Sometimes, she’d ask me about things, too. Once she started coming to my house, and we got comfortable in our routine, she asked about the pictures on my walls, the keepsakes I have on display here and there. Those were easy enough to tell about.
It’s funny how sometimes you find a friend—in the likely places—and almost immediately, you can talk about anything. But more often than not, after the initial blush, you find you really have nothing in common. With others, you believe you’ll never be more than acquaintances. You’re so different, after all. But then this thing surprises you, sticking longer than you ever predicted, and you begin to rely on it, and that relationship whittles down your walls, little by little, until you realize you know that one person better than almost anyone. You’re really and truly friends.
It’s like that with Dorrie and me. Who would have thought ten years later we’d still be doing business together, but so much more, as well. That we’d not only be talking about our shows but sometimes watching them together. That she’d be making excuses to stop by several days a week, asking if I need her to run any errands for me—wanting to know if I’m out of milk or eggs, if I need to go to the bank. That I’d be making sure when I ride the cart around the grocery store, after the Handitran drops me off, I put a six-pack of her favorite soft drink in the basket so she’ll have something to wet her whistle before she starts on my hair.
One time, a few years back, she looked embarrassed when she started to ask me a question. She stopped mid-sentence.
“What?” I said. “Cat got your tongue? That’s a first.”
“Oh, Miss Isabelle, I know you wouldn’t be interested. Never mind.” “Okay,” I said. I was never one to pick something out of people that they didn’t want to tell. “Well, since you begged me…” She grinned. “Stevie’s got this concert at school Thursday night. He’s got a solo—on the trumpet. You know he plays the trumpet?”
“How could I miss it, Dorrie? You’ve been telling me about it for three years, since he auditioned.”
“I know, Miss Isabelle. I’m kind of over-the-top proud when it comes to the kids. Anyway, would you like to come with me? To see him play?” I thought about it for a minute. Not because there was any question whether I wanted to go, but because I was a little overcome. It took too long for me to find my voice.
“It’s okay, Miss Isabelle. Don’t feel like you have to. My feelings won’t be hurt and—”
“No! I’d love to. In fact, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do Thursday.” She laughed. It’s not like I ever went anywhere, and Thursday was a boring night for television that year.
Since then, it hasn’t been uncommon for her to take me along when the kids have special events. Heaven knows, their father usually forgets to show up. Dorrie’s mother usually comes, too, and we have nice little chats, but I always wonder what she thinks about my being there. She studies me with a shade of curiosity, as though she can’t fathom any reason for Dorrie and me to be friends. But there’s still so much Dorrie doesn’t know. Things nobody knows. If I were going to tell anyone, it would likely be her. It would definitely be her. And I think it’s time. More than anyone, I trust her not to judge me, not to question the way things happened and the way things turned out. So here I am, asking her to drive me all the way from Texas to Cincinnati, halfway across the country, to help me tend to things. I’m not too proud to admit I can’t do this alone. I’ve done plenty for myself, by myself, as long as I can remember.
But this? No. This I can’t do alone. And I don’t want to anyway. I want my daughter; I want Dorrie.
Copyright © 2013 by Julie Kibler
Calling Me Home is a story that interweaves past with present, as Miss Isabelle McCallister and her friend/hairdresser Dorrie make a cross country trip to a funeral. Miss Isabelle is an elderly woman living alone and has asked Dorrie a young single black hairdresser to drive her from Texas to Cincinnati. With Dorrie's crazy life, she kinda will get a break from everything going on at home plus the added bonus of learning a bit more about Isabelle's guarded past.
As the head out of town, Miss Isabelle begins her story...Kentucky 1939. With miles of road behind them she shares the story of her true love, a forbidden love. 17 year old Isabelle had fallen in love with 18 year old Robert Prewitt, a black youth whose mother worked for Isabelle's family. The closer they get to Cincinnati the more Dorrie learns of Isabelle's heartbreaking story and realizes the funeral is of utmost importance.
While driving, Dorrie's hectic life seems to be following her. She feels pressed with her own son and with the new man in her life. But as she sits and listens to Miss Isabelle's story she quickly realizes there are many truths in her story that Dorrie can use in her own life. Once at the funeral, when all the truth is revealed the two women are more connected than ever.
What can I say? I loved Calling Me Home! With the beginning of the romance you can't help but think oh no! Not in that time! You know what was done to young black boys if they even looked at a white women back then! I wanted to talk some sense into her, but at the same time you want them together because they love each other! It's a struggle reading about the appalling treatment...it's like you read and realize how far things have come and at the same time realize there is so much more to be done.
This is a book you really don't want to put down. You can't help but want to know what's next and I LOVED how Dorrie was not just another person is the story, but was also hearing the story just as I was. I sat with this book crying as it came to an end.
I highly recommend Calling Me Home.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 9, 2013
This story takes you back to a time when interracial love was a scary thing. The characters in this novel jump out of the pages, I immediately became very attached to them. Their emotions became my own emotions. I couldn't put this book down! It was a great read for those who like historical fictions and love stories. The characters are witty, emotional, and down to earth ... they felt very real. This story draws you in and will keep you interested until the very last page. I didn’t find any lulls in the story either, I often hate when an author goes on and on describing something simple like a tree. This author's level of description was just enough to be able to visualize the scene, but kept the novel flowing. Great novel, I highly recommend this book!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 23, 2013
With her debut novel, Calling Me Home, Julie Kibler has taken a sensitive subject, wrapped it in emotion, and weaved together a story in a way that left my heart alternately racing and aching. I can see why early reviews compared Calling Me Home to The Help. I loved the dual story lines with present and past and how she ties the two to each other in the end. I cried when I turned the last page because I didn't want to stop reading.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 21, 2013
This debut novel caught me from the first few pages. Kibler's story takes you inside the heads and hearts of Miss Isabelle and Dorrie so that you feel you are right there in the car with them. The two women's stories are interwoven with ease so that the story flows from present to past and back again, carrying the reader along with it. There are parts that made me uncomfortable, but in a good way. The love story at the heart of this book is one of a forbidden relationship, and my heart broke for Isabelle and Robert that it even had to matter. The friendship between Dorrie and Isabelle made me smile as they were at times tender and then in the next moment fractious, and more and more like a mother and daughter. Hold on to your heart as you reach the end. Julie Kibler has crafted an end to her tale that is oh so heartrending, and yet sweetly satisfying. I highly recommend this book - it is one of the best I've read in years. Can't wait until it's made into a movie.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 18, 2013
The story of these two women really drew me in and had me in tears a couple of times. Although derived from a personal family story, I hope the author is able to show similar skill in her future publications. Nice job!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 15, 2013
A GREAT read!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is very well-written and the story is very engaging. The characters are so real that I felt I knew them! What a perfect debut novel. Highly recommended!!
barbie0921
Posted April 30, 2013
I found this story beautiful and sad at the same time. It was brilliantly written. I couldn't put it down and kept thinking about it long after I finished it. I very highly recommend this book!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This is such a great story! But be careful where you read it and have tissues ready especially towards the end, I happened to be driving at the end of this one! I fell in love with both of these characters Miss Isabelle and Dorrie were true friends even though such different people. Dorrie is an African American single mother and hairdresser who has been doing 89 year old Isabelle’s hair for over a year and they have grown close but when Isabelle asks Dorrie to drive her from Texas to Ohio for a funeral, Dorrie jumps at the chance to get away from her own troubles for awhile and help the old lady out. This book is told in alternating chapters by Dorrie and Isabelle, Dorrie dealing with her own problems at home in the present day and Isabelle telling the story of her life; that when she was 17 in Kentucky in the 1930’s she fell in love with a black man and the consequences that occurred due to her actions. Isabelle’s story is so heartbreaking but beautiful and the friendship that grows between these two women is one of the best friendships out there. I adored this book and couldn’t put it down I didn’t want to stop listening I needed to know how the story played out because with each bombshell Isabella would drop you could see so many ways the story could go and most of them had very dire consequences. I received the ebook galley of this book from netgalley then I heard that it was going to be narrated by, Bahni Turpin & Lorna Raver so of course I waited for the audiobook and I am so glad I did. These two are perfect for the characters Bahni as Dorrie and Lorna as Isabelle bring the emotion of this book bubbling to surface in waves of emotion that will make you feel everything these characters are going through. Loran Raver’s telling of Isabelle’s story is at times pure raw emotion that conveys so beautifully the heartbreak of her long life and Bahni Turpin’s Dorrie is smart yet has this soft vulnerable side that Turpin brings to life without flaw. I highly recommend this book on audio with these two narrators how can you go wrong! This is one the best books I’ve read this year. If you like southern fiction and beautiful friendship stories give this book a try you won’t be disappointed! 5 stars
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 5, 2013
I Also Recommend:
This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. It was such a touching story. I grew to love the characters of Dorrie and Isabelle as much as I despised Isabelle's mother and her brothers. This book brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. Just a great story. I highly recommend this. Also a good book club selection.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Mary-Yettas-Book-Reviews
Posted March 30, 2013
This debut novel tells a story of a unlikely friendship between an elderly woman and a middle age woman on thier way to a funeral to put a family member or friend to rest.These characters are very real and almost addictive. A black woman and a white woman .Both with thier own stories and told with such compassion and special understanding by both women.
The novel goes back and forth from present day with Dorrie the black 36 yr old hairdresser and to the 1940's with Miss Isabelle an 89yr old determined woman who is going to a funeral in her home town of Shalerville ,Kentucky. Ms Isabelle needs a driver since hers was taken away 3rs ago. So she ask her hairdresser, Dorrie ,if she would drive her to Kentucky from her home in Texas.
Ms Isabelle starts from the beginning of her love story with a forbidden love in 1939 when she was only 17 yrs old. She tells this story as a way of telling her friend Dorrie why she is going back home for the funeral. The story is compelling and makes the reader think twice about how our ancesters treated people just because of the color of thier skin.
Reviewer Wiley Cash said of this novel: If "CAlling Me Home" were a woman, her grandmother would be" To Kill a Mockingbird", her sister would be "The Help", and her cousin would be "The Notebook".
I found this book to be moving ,touching ,and believable.The reader could feel the book tugging at your heartstrings and twisting them until a tear falls and rolls down your cheeck.Then at other times the reader will want to laugh out loud.
I found this novel to be a page turner as I sat up in the bed until 2:00 a.m. reading this book because I had to see how it ended.
I highly recommend this book. It is a pulpwood queen selection so you know it has to be good. It has also been optioned for a movie--So that tells you something right there .I want to see Julie Kibler rise with another winner since this is her debut novel. I know she will do it again. Thank you Julie for a wonderful read.
Anonymous
Posted March 30, 2013
I'm a 50 year old man, so this is probably coming from someone different than have written previous reviews.
"calling me home" definitely takes us back to times that were different than today, but it also shows that things haven't changed that much.
I loved Miss Isabelle and Dorrie, their friendship, and how both had something to give to help the other through some very difficult times.
"calling me home" is a must read.
Skybird1941
Posted March 25, 2013
I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great read. It makes you really care what happens to the characters, and the ending is a surprise that I didn't expect!
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Posted March 19, 2013
One of the books I have read this year or for that matter in a while. Wonderfully written.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.BcreekBuckeye
Posted March 19, 2013
I was initially sceptical that the book would live up to the glowing reviews but it was wonderful. The characters are very genuine, and the story is touching. Definitely a plus for a Southwestern Ohioan like me that it features the Cincinnati area although not necessarily in a positive light.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Books4Tomorrow
Posted March 17, 2013
I can’t recall where I read it, but someone compared this book to Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. That comparison is what got me interested in reading Calling Me Home. That, and of course the picture on the cover that already spoke a thousand words to me. At first, other than the time in which the story plays out of a young Isabelle falling in love with her soulmate who – according to her family and the laws of that time – is the wrong color, I couldn’t see how this book could be compared to the magnificence of The Help. By the time I finished Calling Me Home, bawling my eyes out while ploughing through the last ten chapters, I knew exactly why this book is reminiscent of Kathryn Stockett’s masterpiece. Folks, I’m begging you to read this book. Even if you think this might not be your cup of tea, I can promise you, you’ll leave a piece of your heart behind in this sensitively written, exquisite novel by a debut author whose writing will move you and leave you breathlessly in awe.
It took me a few weeks to finish this novel. This is not a book you read in one sitting. It takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, and attempting to finish it in one go might leave you feeling emotionally drained. There’s only so much the heart can take. I kept rereading certain paragraphs and sentences, amazed at how well the author understands and translates the deepest love and pain a person can possibly feel. I lingered on passages with deeper meanings and ones with comparisons to my own life; chapters which made me question my views and opinions and had me asking myself what I would’ve done in both Isabelle and Dorrie’s situations. This is a story that forces you to think! And that, people, is why it took me weeks to finish this book. You don’t simply read it; you live it. You backtrack – pages, paragraphs, sentences – just so to experience those same emotions all over again. Why? Because you think it won’t hit you as hard again as it did reading it the first time. But it does.
I can’t really say anything more (without giving spoilers) than what the blurb already summarised. I won’t be surprised at all if this story is made into a movie someday. Isabelle, Dorrie, Robert and Nell crawled so deep into my heart they became a part of me. I can hardly believe this is the author’s first book. Her characters connected with me on so many levels. I laughed in some places, I nodded my head in agreement with the life lessons Dorrie learned through Isabelle’s experiences, and most of all, it gave me the courage to stand my ground when faced with adversity. Isabelle and Robert’s story might be a tale of love across racial barriers, but Calling Me Home is so much more than simply a love story. The brutal honesty in the telling of events from Isabelle as a young, naïve girl to Isabelle as a much wiser eighty-nine-year-old woman, who still has to deal with the same intolerances today as she had to in the late 1930s, is only one of the many layers of this superb read that renders the reader completely at the author’s mercy. The atrocities, discrimination, prejudice and blatant disregard for human lives, love in all its different forms, loss, hope, friendship, forgiveness and moving on; only some of the elements which forms part of this multi-faceted story, are what kept me rooted to my seat and slowly savoring each page.
Calling Me Home is a tearjerker with a surprising and unpredictable ending. Although I cried my way through a large part of the story – especially the ending – this is one of the few stories that had such an emotional impact on me, it changed my life. For me this was a journey on a personal level which I took whilst in the shoes of Dorrie and Isabelle, and as a mother, a friend, and someone who knows what it’s like to love someone so completely they become your every breath, I commend the author on her honesty, her fearlessness, and her wisdom in creating extraordinary characters who spoke directly to me and who became my memorable companions on an emotional journey of courage, discovery, acceptance and perseverance. This is a definite must-read for the reader who, like me, wears her heart on her sleeve.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
momoffourRB
Posted March 13, 2013
Super story, Loved it from beginning to end. If this is the first book, hope there is more to come.
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Posted March 12, 2013
Beautifully written! If you loved The Help, you're really going to love this one. I look forward to the next novel.
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Posted March 9, 2013
Beautiful story.
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Posted March 3, 2013
A beautifully written novel that brought me to tears...I saw and felt these two courageous women...the journey each made, how race impacted their lives and the lessons for all of us, that while we have made strides, we have far to go...
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 2, 2013
Story is a good read
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Overview
Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship
Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. ...