Kibler's unsentimental eye makes the problems faced unflinchingly by [Isabelle and Dorrie] ring true. Love and family defy the expected in this engaging tale.” —Kirkus
“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 incarnationsin 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
Kibler, in alternating first-person narrations, delivers a rousing debut about forbidden love and unexpected friendships over the span of six decades. Dorrie, an African-American hairstylist in East Texas, is asked by one of her regular clients, Isabelle, a woman in her 80s, for a strange favor—a ride to Cincinnati. On the road, Dorrie learns of Isabelle’s painful past. Both in conversations in the car and via flashback from her teenage years, Isabelle reveals her former childhood of white privilege in a prejudiced Southern town and her love affair with her maid’s brother, Robert, a black man. She and Robert married in secret only to find their clandestine relationship quickly torn apart. After giving up Robert for lost, Isabelle married again—this time for convenience, but Robert’s return forces her to confront difficult questions about love, commitment, and her antagonistic relationship with her family. Now, as Dorrie and Isabelle reach Cincinnati, Isabelle reveals her reasons for going—to attend a funeral, which uncovers long-held emotions and secrets buried for 60 years. 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. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Weed Literary. (Feb.)
Secrets long buried, though never forgotten, resurface during a cross-country road trip taken by an unlikely pair. Miss Isabelle, a white octogenarian, asks Dorrie, her 30-something African-American hairdresser, to drive her from east Texas to Cincinnati. The destination is a funeral—but for whom? Narrator Lorna Raver opens the story as Miss Isabelle, her throaty voice wrapped around a light Southern accent that hardens and softens as she moves between the present and 1939, the year that set her life's course. During Dorrie's chapters, Bahni Turpin shines as Miss Isabelle's steadfast and sensitive companion. Turpin deftly balances Dorrie's inner dialogue with her conversations with Miss Isabelle, and heightening the listener's anticipation of the unfolding details. Like their characters, each narrator accentuates the other. A.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
From East Texas to Cincinnati, from present-day racism to 1930s segregation, Isabelle and Dorrie travel together, a most unlikely pair of companions, and their stories unfold. After having been Isabelle's hairdresser for a decade, Dorrie thinks she knows Isabelle pretty well, even though Isabelle is a 90-something white woman and she is a 30-something black woman and even though Isabelle grew up privileged and she has struggled to begin her own shop. Over time, the women have bonded over shared stories, stories about Dorrie's divorce and Isabelle's favorite soap operas. And over time, they have become friends. Yet, when Isabelle asks Dorrie to drive her cross-country to a funeral, Dorrie is taken aback. It's easy enough to ask her mother to care for her children, but telling Teague, her new boyfriend, is another matter. Their relationship is still new, still tentative, and Dorrie has been burned by men too often. Once on the road, Isabelle's most secret story comes out. Growing up in a town that persecuted blacks who dared to stay after sunset, and under the thumb of a mother watching her daughter's every movement, Isabelle was the last young woman the people of Shalerville, Ky., might have expected to fall in love with a black man. The repercussions of their love shattered their lives, their families, their futures. Yet, their story isn't finished, and Dorrie wonders what lingers and whose funeral they are headed toward. As she puts the puzzle of Isabelle together, Dorrie has worries of her own. Can she trust Teague? Why have her son and his girlfriend stopped planning for the prom? Kibler's unsentimental eye makes the problems faced unflinchingly by these women ring true. Love and family defy the expected in this engaging tale.