Mourning Dove - Softcover

Fullerton, Claire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1946016527 ISBN 13: 9781946016522

Publisher: Firefly Southern Fiction, 2018

Synopsis

"An accurate and heart-wrenching picture of the sensibilities of the American South." Kirkus Book Reviews

The heart has a home when it has an ally.
If Millie Crossan doesn't know anything else, she knows this one truth simply because her brother Finley grew up beside her. Charismatic Finley, eighteen months her senior, becomes Millie's guide when their mother Posey leaves their father and moves her children from Minnesota to Memphis shortly after Millie's tenth birthday.

Memphis is a world foreign to Millie and Finley. This is the 1970s Memphis, the genteel world of their mother's upbringing and vastly different from anything they've ever known. Here they are the outsiders. Here, they only have each other. And here, as the years fold over themselves, they mature in a manicured Southern culture where they learn firsthand that much of what glitters isn't gold. Nuance, tradition, and Southern eccentrics flavor Millie and Finley's world as they find their way to belonging.

But what hidden variables take their shared history to leave both brother and sister at such disparate ends?

About this title

About the Author

Memphis native, Claire Fullerton, is the author A Portal in Time, and Dancing to an Irish Reel, which is set on the west coast of Ireland, where she once lived. An avid journal-keeper, Claire has written her entire life, beginning her professional career as a published poet and including her weekly column, In First Person , with the Malibu Surfside News. A frequent contributor to magazines and online literary journals, her work has appeared in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Celtic Life International, and Southern Writers Magazine. Claire lives by the Malibu ocean with her husband, two German shepherds, and one black cat. Learn more at: clairefullerton.com

From the Back Cover

"A wise and brilliantly evocative Southern tale enhanced by Claire Fullerton's inimitable wit. Indulge in this eloquent exploration of colorful and complex family dynamics."

Gary Fearon
Creative Director of Southern Writers Magazine


"Set against the backdrop of a complicated 1970s South - one both forward-looking and still in love with the past - and seen through the eyes of a Minnesota girl struggling to flourish in Memphis society, 'Mourning Dove' is the story of two unforgettable siblings with a bond so strong even death can't break it. Claire Fullerton has given us a wise, relatable narrator in Millie. Like a trusted friend, she guides us through the confounding tale of her dazzling brother Finley, their beguiling mother Posey, and a town where shiny surfaces often belie reality. Like those surfaces, Fullerton's prose sparkles even as she leads us into dark places, posing profound questions without any easy answers."
Margaret Evans
Editor, Lowcountry Weekly
Former Assistant Editor of Pat Conroy


"Claire Fullerton knows how to get a voice going. I'm talking distinctive, authoritative, original as all get out. Narrator Millie Crossan will grab you by your high-ball-holding hand and set you down in privileged Memphis with her family and not let you go. Get ready for the Crossan layers to be peeled back and universal struggles exposed."

Bren McClain
Author of One Good Mama Bone



"Every sentence tells a complete story in and of itself. A rare accomplishment by any writer! What an excellent novel -- put it on your Must Read List for 2018! Millie tells the story of her brother Finley, life in the South and the anguish and joy of growing up in an eclectic and ever-changing household with rare poetic prose. Such a wonderful book."

Valerie MacEwan, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature


"In Mourning Dove, Claire Fullerton deftly weaves the story of a Memphis family into a fine fabric laden with delicious intricacy and heart. A true Southern storyteller."--Laura Lane McNeal, Bestselling author of DOLLBABY

With a strong sense of place and an authentic voice, Claire Fullerton captures the longing and angst of an aristocratic Southern family. The narrator Millie and her brother, Finley will stay with readers long after this novel is read. Mourning Dove is smart, well-written Southern Fiction.

Johnnie Bernhard, Author of A Good Girl, How We Came to Be

Edition details

• Publisher: Firefly Southern Fiction
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1946016527
• ISBN 13: 9781946016522
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 234