The Dry Grass of August

by Anna Jean Mayhew Narrated by Karen White

Overview

In this beautifully written debut, Anna Jean Mayhew offers a riveting depiction of Southern life in the throes of segregation and what it will mean for a young girl on her way to adulthood-and for the woman who means the world to her.

On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there-cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father's rages and her mother's benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally.

Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents' failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence.

Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage that can transform us from child to adult, wounded to indomitable.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for The Dry Grass of August

"A superior book to The Help." —North Carolina Literary Review
 
“Once you’ve experienced The Dry Grass of August, you’ll swiftly see that Anna Jean Mayhew’s debut novel deserves all the early praise it’s getting…the power, bravery and beauty of Mayhew’s narrative is beyond contestation and well-deserving of a wide readership.” —BookPage

“Mayhew keeps the story taut, thoughtful and complex, elevating it from the throng of coming-of-age books.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Beautifully written, with complex characters, an urgent plot, and an ending so shocking and real it had me in tears.” —Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters

“A must-read for fans of The Help.” —Woman’s World

“Because the novel is totally true to Jubie’s point of view, it generates gripping drama as we watch her reach beyond authority to question law and order.” —Booklist

“A masterful work of blending time and place.”  —The Charlotte Observer

“A beautifully written and important novel. Set in the 1950s South, it deals with race relations in an original, powerful way. It’s also a great story about complicated family relationships, told with humor, delicacy, and penetrating insight. I wish I had written this book.” —Angela Davis-Gardner, author of Butterfly’s Child

“Anna Jean Mayhew has a true ear for Southern speech…The Dry Grass of August is a carefully researched, beautifully written, quietly told tale of love and despair and a look backward at the way it was back then in the South.” —The Pilot (Southern Pines, North Carolina)

“A beautiful book that fans of The Help will enjoy.” —Karen White, New York Times bestselling author

“An extraordinary, absorbing novel.” —Historical Novel Reviews

Historical Novel Reviews

An extraordinary, absorbing novel.

BookPage

Once you've experienced The Dry Grass of August, you'll swiftly see that Anna Jean Mayhew's debut novel deserves all the early praise it's getting. . .the power, bravery and beauty of Mayhew's narrative is beyond contestation and well-deserving of a wide readership.

The Charlotte Observer

A masterful work of blending time and place.

Booklist

Because the novel is totally true to Jubie's point of view, it generates gripping drama as we watch her reach beyond authority to question law and order.

Woman's World

A must-read for fans of The Help.

Kirkus Reviews

2023-11-20
In Mayhew’s novel, a teenage girl confronts racist brutality in the 1950s American South.

In 1954, 13-year-old Jubie Watts leaves her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, to go on a Florida vacation with her mother, siblings, and the family’s longtime Black maid, Mary. There she meets Leesum, a Black boy around Jubie’s age, who helps open her eyes to the world of discrimination to which she, as a white girl, had been largely oblivious: “We been in different places, Miss June—Jubie. I been right here on earth an you been on the moon.” On the drive back to Charlotte, a minor car crash forces the family to stay overnight in the rural town of Claxton, Georgia. When a group of local men attempt to rape Jubie and her older sister, Stell, Mary offers herself up in their place. After Mary is later found beaten to death, Jubie struggles with her complex feelings of grief and guilt. But it’s when her father forbids her from attending Mary’s funeral that Jubie is finally forced to examine her own beliefs—as well as the flaws and failings of the various grown-ups around her. While there are a few brief moments of levity (“Stell got Young Life going in Charlotte after she’d been saved by Leighton Ford, the brother-in-law of Billy Graham, who is like God’s brother-in-law as far as Charlotteans are concerned”), Jubie’s story is largely one of tragedy and struggle—the text includes detailed descriptions of her father’s physical abuse and multiple uses of racist insults by white characters. While this novel is not for the faint-hearted, it does tackle its difficult topics with purpose. Mayhew’s smooth prose, while repetitive in places, provides a lingering sense of tension that propels the story forward as the characterizations largely manage to avoid stereotypes. The ending will likely prove a bit abrupt for some readers, but it effectively ties up most of the loose ends.

A taut tearjerker wrapping a coming-of-age story around an unflinching examination of racism and abuse.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169777475
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	11/15/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

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