This book is sure to become a best seller. Southern historical fiction at its finest. I loved everything about this book. The characters had depth and I actually cared about them. I enjoyed the three perspectives and how the women's lives intertwined with each other. The setting was so realistic. This is a writer that I will watch for. Incredibly talented! I will highly recommend this to my library patrons. Thanks Netgalley and publisher for ARC.

Gertrude, Retta and Annie are three unforgettable characters in this new book. All through this book you as the reader are heartbroken by their many problems. They seem unsolvable yet one by one these three women get control of their loves. It's heartwarming to see how they survive against the odds of their struggles.

From the first line to the last word, my heart and soul was drawn into the storie of 3 exceptional women, I love historical fiction and I was hoping for a good story, but what I got was beautiful prose that tells the tale of Retta who takes care of the Coles family, Annie, the matriarch of the Coles family and Gertrude, a woman who begins working for the Coles.
This book is one I will recommend over and over again for any reader who love a great tale and appreciates good writing.

Ms. Spera, please don't let this be your last book!!

Three strong women carry this novel and tell it in their own voices. Based in 1924 in the South, the characters are vivid and the writing makes you feel like you know these women. Gertrude, Retta and Annie are from different backgrounds and social standings. They weave you through their daily lives and what the circumstances bring. Gertrude is dirt poor with an abusive husband and children to look after. Annie is the wife of a plantation owner who is struggling to survive. She is very active in her son's fashion designing and has created a Sewing Circle employing local women. Retta is the black maid with a Christian heart and lives by the Golden Rule.
They will take you on their journey with several twists and the hardships they endured, psychologically and in class circumstances.
If you like to read about historical fiction, strong women and survival, you will enjoy reading this book.

Amazing debut novel. Deb Spera sets the scenes masterfully and you really feel like you are there with the three main characters and their families as well. The threads of the three disparate characters (poor white, working-class African-American shortly after slavery’s end, and privileged white) are woven together well. Either I am dense or the plotting was skillful because I did not see pivotal plot point coming, but when it was revealed the hairs actually stood up on the back of my neck. I didn’t want to put this down until it was finished. Definitely a recommended title for 2019. I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

Wow this book really hit me. These women are strong and radical and support each other through this very tough time. I was drawn into this story from the beginning. The writing is beautiful and was hard for me to put this one down. I loved how these women came together and helped one another. I loved the way the author laid out the setting and brought it to life too.
It is hard to describe all the things this book made me feel, but I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I just could not get into this book. I had trouble following the characters and the story. I will try at another time to read it and see if my rating improves.

Call Your Daughter Home tells about the lives of Gertrude, Retta, and Annie. Three women from three very different walks of life. All trying to find peace. A victim of domestic violence, Gertrude is poor, so poor she can barely keep her daughters alive. Annie is a wealthy, southern wife trying to reassemble her family torn apart after a suicide. Retta, an African American housekeeper, works for Annie and is looking to walk the path God has given her. All three women will face tragedy and find hope.

This book is excellent A must read. I hated to spend any time away from it. Each character is so different. Each facing such difficult life choices. All hoping for guidance. The story telling reminds me of great southern novels. I can hear the voices from the past. I can see through their eyes. The author doesn't spend time with lengthy descriptions, she lets your imagination fill in the gaps. Although I would not call the book religious fiction, it does have a spiritual undertone. Retta especially is character connected to God and looking for His hand in her life. Although these women have faults, each is strong in her way. I like to see women who find their inner strength.

”It’s easier to kill a man than a gator, but it takes the same kind of wait.”

Set in the 1924, in Branchville, South Carolina, the voices of three women share their stories, their struggles, and their pain, while at the same time holding their own secrets close.

”Sometimes the years go by so fast it’s like flipping pages in a book, but a day can take so long a whole life’s gone by before the sun sets down.”

Gertrude Pardee, a young white woman who is escaping her abusive husband, leaving with her four daughters in search of a home away from so many years of pain, hoping to shield her daughters from the same treatment by their father that she endured. Her daughters are Edna, fifteen, Lily, thirteen, Alma and Mary are ten and six.

”Somewhere nearby, a screen door slams and a child laughs. A whistled tune is carried through the air to my ear as clear as a songbird, though I don’t know the melody. I have neighbors near enough for me to hear them and them to hear me. I am all at once reminded of other lives beyond the one I have lived.”

Annie Coles, who comes to employ Gertie, lives on her family plantation, in a house that is ”pure white and grand as the entrance to heaven” along with her husband, and has been estranged from her two adult daughters for some time. Her youngest son died very young, and tragically. She also has two adult sons.

Oretta Bootles - Retta – is Annie Coles black housekeeper, the first generation of free blacks in her family, who frequently thinks of, speaks to, her daughter who died at the age of eight. Retta is married to Odell, whose health is poor following a major work related injury. Their love is sweet and strong. Retta’s chapters are gently infused with a strong spiritual sense, as she shares her feelings with God about Odell, a bargaining for his safe keeping.

”…no matter how much we look at what happened, no matter how many times we think back to what might have been if we could’ve done one thing different, no matter what, we always come up the same. We live over and over in the happening only to be left with what’s already done.”

Set in an era where this area was still recovering from a boll weevil infection that affected the economy, and a few away from the Great Depression which would hit this area harder than most, this history plays out, showing the devastating effect it had on this area, and the people who lived there. At its heart, though, this is a lovely portrait of the friendship of these three women, the desperately hard times they endured, and the strength they gained through their bonds of loyalty and friendship that allowed them to endure.

”’Between us we got all the talent in the world, but we got to use every bit to pull ourselves up. We been down,’ I told them. ‘but we ain’t down no more. We got to look at this chance like we’re being born all over again.’”

Originally titled ”Alligator,” the author, Deb Spera, is also a veteran of television, having been a TV producer for Criminal Minds,Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Reaper as well as the Lifetime series Army Wives Close to two years ago, she closed a two-year first-look deal with AMC.




Pub Date: 11 Jun 2019


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harlequin – Trade Publishing (US & Canada) Park Row

Woman's fiction at its finest. A look at Southern women's lives; those in poverty, those of color, and those in a "privileged class". In the end the lives of women aren't much different by class or color and generations of daughters are raised in the same manner in which their mothers live. Highly recommend for historical women's fiction readers.

I may try this again, but the first pass just didn't grab me. Not enough depth, or compelling character development.

Set in the small town of Branchville, South Carolina, this novel covers the interlocked lives of women who are stronger than they think they ever can be.

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera is an excellent novel about several families who live in the South. I felt a real connection with the unique characters that were in this story. Gertrude is one of the characters that I loved. Here is a hard working mother who is abused my her husband and is trying to find a way to escape the abuse her husband deals to both her and one of her daughters. Not only does Gertrude have to deal with this abuse but she also has to find a way to feed her children while living in poverty. This is just one of the story lines in this novel. Another memorable character named Retta is a black woman who works for a supposedly wealthy family. I cannot begin to tell you about all the memorable characters you will encounter in this novel. There are many surprises in the storyline and although I felt the ending was a bit rushed this was still an great read. You will not be disappointed!,

I loved this so much I went to the library to read about Boll Weevils. Definitely going to be handing this one to all of my customers. I loved each of the three women we get to experience in this novel - and when the twist was revealed (a twist that normally turns me off of a book) i thought it was done so tastefully. Nothing graphic (as the mother of young children, I can’t handle this particular kind of graphic). Loved it!

Beautiful story about three women whose lives become interwoven through lives circumstances.
I really enjoyed the tale of the three women and how the author tied the story together with all the different perspectives.
The ending was very good.

Call Your Daughter Home is sure to become a classic in Southern literature. It is a book that I didn’t just read – I lived it and felt it. And even though it was heart wrenching in parts it was also uplifting with a beautiful message of strength, perseverance, a mother's love and the power of women. It is a beautifully written story of three women whose lives intersect in a small South Carolina town in the 1920s. Gertrude is a poor white woman with 4 daughters who has endured hardships that defy belief and yet finds the strength to do what she must to ensure that her children survive. Oretta is a first generation freed black woman who works for the same family who owned her mother. She too has suffered from loss and pain, the least of which is not being able to do what she knows is right because she must remember her place. Annie Cole is the mistress of the plantation where Retta lives and works and even though she is white and supposedly rich and privileged she too has suffered great loss and pain. Though from totally different backgrounds it is evident that these three women are more alike than they are different as they fight misogyny, poverty, and racism and try to save their families and those they love.

1924 S. Carolina after boll weevil infestation...

story rotates between several characters/
all different lives, same town- all needing strength to get through their trials

I had difficulty following all of the stories; there were too many and then going between their pasts and present troubles and life history it got to hard to follow the actual story line.

Rural South Carolina in the early 1920’s. The story revolves around three women, one a poor woman escaping an abusive husband with her daughters, one a first generation free person of color who has lost her daughter, and the matriarch of a wealthy family in which the daughters have escaped their fathers secrets and abuse. Well written with rich characters drawn from Spera’s family roots.

This stellar debut from Deb Spera is rich, atmospheric and oh-so-haunting. It tells the story of three women living very separate lives in a coastal South Carolina town during the 1920s. Their fates become inextricably entwined as the novel progresses and as secrets are revealed. Her prose is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to read her next book. This is going to be a big one!! For fans of Where the Crawdads Sing.

This is a powerful and well-written story. I could not put this down. How wonderful to read about three very strong women who do whatever they must for their families. The descriptive writing about post Civil War conditions is outstanding. This is a story that stays with one.