I finally finished FOX'S EARTH by Anne Rivers Siddons (1981) and no, I haven't been reading it since that time. It has 546 pages in a small font, so it's not a book that you can just zip through. In it, the author tells the story of five generations of Georgia women, so I can't think of any way the size of the book could have been reduced and still tell the complete story. The first generation woman is dirt-poor and married to a man who has a streak of madness. She coaches her one beautiful and smart daughter on ways to escape the beatings and poverty, and the daughter, Ruth, learns her lessons well. Ruth is the central figure in the book, and having attained her primary goal, spends the remainder of her long life protecting her own interests and manipulating others.
There is naturally a lot of dialogue between the central characters and their black servants. This exceptional author reproduces the dialect beautifully, and it keeps the book sounding authentic.
Hey, winter's coming, so you'll be spending more time inside. Find a copy of the book, snuggle down in a warm place and enjoy.