The Cracker Queen: A Memoir of a Jagged, Joyful Life - Hardcover

Hannon, Lauretta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1592404502 ISBN 13: 9781592404506

Publisher: Gotham, 2009

Synopsis

Marking the debut of a powerfully original Southern voice, The Cracker Queen begins with the childhood experiences and adventures of Lauretta Hannon in backwater Warner Robins. Her mama and jazz musician daddy have a deep and disorderly love with years of booze, infidelities, and nervous breakdowns, but through it all she feels cherished. The stories of her deeply dysfunctional family include chain gangs, guns, ghost hunting, moonshine stands, scooterpootin', the famous Goat Man of Georgia, and Crazy Aunt Carrie who is arrested for assaulting a police dog. The early years of hardship and hard living all gave Hannon the resilience and humor that are now the hallmarks of her Cracker Queen way of life.
From Warner Robins she moves to Savannah's most eccentric neighborhoods and lives among its lively crew of hellions, heroines, bad seeds, thugs, and renegades, including a lady who keeps the Baby Jesus chained up in her front yard, a woman who looks like a rutabaga, and the root doctor that works a hoodoo on her.

About this title

About the Author

Lauretta Hannon is a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered and Georgia Public Radio’s Georgia Gazette, and has contributed to numerous newspapers. Winner of more than two hundred awards in marketing and promotions, she is the marketing director at Atlanta Technical College.

Review

aI raced through this bookahorrified, laughing out loud, and weeping by turns. I say, letas throw out all the self-help and inspirational books in the country, and put up "The Cracker Queen" displays instead! Hannon really made me think, and Iam going to whup some ass, too.a aLee Smith, author of "The Last Girls" and "On Agate Hill"
aWatch out, Paula Deen and Jill Conner Browne! Chock full of unforgettable lines, "The Cracker Queen" delights again and again as the intrepid Hannon turns her hardscrabble beginnings into a major laugh fest that will leave her readers wanting more. Indeed, they will fall in love a as I did a with Hannon's wit and gutsy take on, well, everything.a
aRosemary Daniell, author of "Secrets of the Zona Rosa" and "Fatal Flowers"
aThe heart, soul, and muscle of "The Cracker Queen" are in the often poignant, often shocking (but always engaging) pieces of Hannonas experiences. But there is more to it than that: thereas also the promise of a remarkably gifted writer, one who understands that she is a medium for her environment, and, for readers, that is cause for great celebration.a
aTerry Kay, author of "To Dance with the White Dog" and "The Book of Marie"
aHannonas stories move from country-hick hilarious to poignant and touching.a
a"Savannah Morning News"
aLaurettaas hilarious depictions of Steel Magnolias everywhere provide perfect proof that the best storytelleraand charactersain the South are women.a
a "White County News"

About this edition

• Publisher: Gotham
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1592404502
• ISBN 13: 9781592404506
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240