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Target's "Need to Read" selection, April 2008 Nothing much even happens in Falling Rock. So when Virignia Lemmons' husband takes off with the strange new woman in town, there's not much to do but what people in rural Kentucky have always done--get on with it. Now, overwhelmed and unsure, Virginia's got her hands full trying to keep it togeher, body and soul, while raising her two teenagers--eighteen-year-old Will and her spirited fourteen-year-old, Shannon.
But Shannon has her own ideas for breaking free of Falling Rock and in her reckless, wild-child daughter, Virginia sees echoes of her own painful past. Virginia will do whatever it takes to keep her daughter from making the same tragic mistakes she made. Suddenly, saving what's left of her fragile family is the biggest fight of Virginia's life.
In this compelling, heartbreaking first novel, Janna McMahan brings to life the dreams, passions and troubles of one Southern town, where choice isn't always easy to come by, and living the hand you're dealt is a grace all its own.
Fans of Jodi Picoult's work will appreciate this novel's spare prose, unexpected plot turns and moral complexities.
-Louisville Courier-Journal
Janna McMahan’s winning debut, Calling Home, brings a strong, compelling new voice to Southern fiction. McMahan pens a lovely, haunting and meticulous story that probes deeply into the complexities and fragility of family bonds. Beautifully written, both funny and intensely sad, this glorious novel sparks such an escalating longing for family and the place in your heart you really call home that it is almost impossible to put down.
-Charleston Magazine
What a lovely, vivid, immediate novel Janna McMahan has written! Calling Home will make you want to call your mother, lock up your children, and find—or hold tight to—the love of your life. This novel will delight and transport all who read it.
-Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of What Matters Most
Calling Home is a lovely book. It will resonate with everyone who ever loved, left or returned to a family—and in a way that’s all of us. Janna speaks to us in a strong, original voice. I hope we hear a lot more of it.
-Anne Rivers Siddons, New York Times bestselling author of Sweetwater Creek and Low Country
In Calling Home, Janna McMahan tells the heart-felt story of the Lemmons family: a sister and brother struggling toward adulthood, a father and mother whose marriage is on the brink of failure, and the complex emotions that bind them through tragedy and loss. From the very first page McMahan carries the reader into another world. Her lushly detailed landscape in rural Kentucky is a visual treat and the voices of her finely drawn characters will live on in your heart. Told with compassion and sensitivity, McMahan has written a memorable story that is a true pleasure to read.
-Katharine Davis, author of Capturing Paris
Calling Home is the story of the pains and growth and dreams of a family, and the pains and growth and dreams of the young. Wherever the reader looks, in the most unexpected places, they will find a part of themselves. The details are so real they make you shiver. This is the story of the search for the true meaning of family, the home that always calls us forward, and back.
-Robert Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of Gap Creek and Brave Enemies
Calling Home is a gritty, down home, contemporary and very real novel. Janna McMahan is a writer who knows how to get out of the way and let the story rip. Each vibrant, well-developed character’s voice rings true. McMahan presents the struggles of the working poor and the small farmer, the aspirations of parents for their children, the passions and problems of family life. She has a special gift for dialogue. This beautifully written, heartbreakingly realistic novel is a page-turner of the first magnitude.
-Lee Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Girls and On Agate Hill
Calling Home is a beautifully wrought novel populated by a vivid cast of characters that are still haunting me, many months after having read the book. Janna McMahan is a natural voice who gracefully walks that tightrope of being both literary and commercial. In economical yet lyrical prose, she takes us completely into the lives of these people and their small town, presenting this world with authenticity and dignity. I absolutely loved this book and will carry it with me for a long time.
-Silas House, bestselling author of Clay’s Quit and A Parchment of Leaves
Click the following fine retailers to purchase your copy of Calling Home: Southern Independent Booksellers Kensington Publishing Target Barnes & Noble Amazon.com |