The Sweetest Thing

The Singleton family's fortunes seem unaffected by the Great Depression, and Perri—along with the other girls at Atlanta's elite Washington Seminary—lives a carefree life of tea dances with college boys, matinees at the cinema, and debut parties. But when tragedies strike, Perri is confronted with a world far different from the one she has always known.

At the insistence of her parents, Mary "Dobbs" Dillard, the daughter of an itinerant preacher, is sent from inner-city Chicago to live with ...