Diane Donovan, Sr. Reviewer for Midwest Book Review gave my newest
book a stunning review. I am so happy to share it with my readers,
“Mother Mac’s Boarding House is a prequel to Trisha Sugarek’s Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us, and will especially delight readers seeking for more “origin” detail about the Georgia backwoods orphaned siblings.
The story opens with a literal bang: Martha ‘Marty’ McBride never would have believed that a man would have gotten past her defenses and knocked her silly. Spunky, determined Marty MacKenzie is planning an escape from her abusive husband Hank, despite the major challenges of money and locating a safe haven. In 1949, there were few resources for women who wanted to flee such circumstances.
As in her previous book, Sugarek is adept at capturing the thoughts and lingo of the South to bring these Mississippi characters to life: One more meal in this house. One more night with that summa’bitch. Hopefully, this heavy meal will put him to sleep early. Then, tomorrow, if Ah’m lucky̶̶̶̶ and as Mama used to say˗˗’the creek don’t rise’, Ah’ll be gone for good.
When Marty stumbles across an abandoned once-grand house for sale, her new life begins to take shape. Again, Sugarek’s talent for capturing atmosphere, dreams, and realities springs to life through descriptions and reflections which impart a “you are here” feel to her story, where Marty: “…didn’t see the peeling paint, the knee-high weeds choking the grass out, the broken windows, or the hole in the front porch floor. Oh no, all she saw was her future home, and the home of the boarders she would rent rooms to. The meals Ah will make for the lonely traveler. The vase of wildflowers on Mah kitchen table. Marty’s heart skipped a beat as she gazed at the house. She could almost hear the laughter of the boarders, smell the aroma of home-cooked meals, and feel the warmth of a home filled with people and purpose.
How Marty confronts the “old world and its rules” with her own special brand of determination makes for an uplifting, evocative story of transformation that brings the Old South alive. Marty’s chance encounter with Hannah Mae and her brother Jerry thus becomes fuller-bodied with the backdrop of events that come full circle for previous readers while welcoming newcomers to the extraordinary coincidences and self-determined life of a woman whose dreams reach out to embrace everyone around her.
Teens, young adults, and many an adult will relish these strong female characters, which expand from Marty’s world to embrace the circumstances of Elenora Parks, an Army nurse veteran newly returned from the war who finds a new life as a teacher and a home that offers an unexpected sanctuary for a pregnant, grieving woman.
Mother Mac’s Boarding House is an exquisite read not only for its realistic Southern setting and characters, but for its uplifting display of female characters whose actions inject positivity and new options into the world around them.
In stark contrast to the “me first” sentiments that seem to permeate modern times, Marty’s desire to escape results in a creation that offers safe harbors to others, as well.
Additionally, the political and social milieu of the times, which passed many restrictive rules on African Americans, comes to life in the light of personal experience. This is a far more intimate, compelling manner of absorbing civil rights and American history than any nonfiction text could achieve, immersing readers in the life of Marty’s journey.
Marty’s confrontations with social and personal repressive elements, and how she rises above them to influence others’ lives, results in a thoroughly compelling story that is hard to put down.
Libraries choosing Mother Mac’s Boarding House will find its impeccable historical research and equally powerful mix of dialogue and atmosphere makes it a top recommendation for book clubs and reading groups
interested in women’s and African American experiences in the 1950s Deep South.
It stands nicely on its own but also serves as an important prequel to the events of Ain’t Nuthin’ Gonna Separate Us, merging history and social inspection in an uplifting, revealing manner that circles around questions of safety, home, connections, and self-determination.” Midwest Book Review
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The Deep South Trilogy
Mother Mac’s Boarding House
with familial love. Like any other family, the threads are co-dependency, love outside of wedlock, unrequited love, addiction, illegitimate kids, and secrets. Do you know a family without secrets? I don’t. 
