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Friendship Cemetery
“Friendship Cemetery” is the story of 18-year-old, Emma Grace. This Southern Gothic story begins with her desire to become a ghost hunter. To this end, Emma spends time in the cemetery. However, she is not alone. There she meets Princess Kamara (a dwarf, who creates quirky, folk art “sculptures” from detritus found in the cemetery), and Tyrone (a young African-American boy, who introduces Emma to a healer-woman). It is a story about family secrets and acceptance. “Friendship Cemetery” will appeal to adult readers and mature teens. There is no graphic sex or violence.
- GenresHorror
191 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2013
2 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
About the author
Adele Elliott
3 books7 followersAdele Elliott is a painter and designer of fantasy tiaras. She is a New Orleans native who has been exiled in Mississippi since her home, and most of her sanity, were blown away by an evil wind named Katrina.
Adele writes an opinion column for The Commercial Dispatch.
She has recently finished her second novel, "Witch Ball," published by Open Books Publishers. Her first novel, “Friendship Cemetery,” was published by Crooked Cat Publishing.
She lives in a big purple house with her wonderful husband, Chris Hannon, and three “children”: Charlotte Ruse (the wild dingo dog), Freda Jolie (lady-dog), and Loa, a magical boy-cat.
Adele writes an opinion column for The Commercial Dispatch.
She has recently finished her second novel, "Witch Ball," published by Open Books Publishers. Her first novel, “Friendship Cemetery,” was published by Crooked Cat Publishing.
She lives in a big purple house with her wonderful husband, Chris Hannon, and three “children”: Charlotte Ruse (the wild dingo dog), Freda Jolie (lady-dog), and Loa, a magical boy-cat.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 1, 2014
I wanted to like this book so bad because the author is from MS and the story takes place in the Starkville/Columbus area where I went to college. I don't know if these 4 and 5 star people on here know the author, but that is not a fair representation of this book. 3 stars would be stretching it. First, the main character didn't even sound like she was 18, but much younger. Then, the twist between her friend's parents was unbelievable. Well, actually most of the plot was unbelievable. There needed to be more editing done because Columbus, MS was said way too many times. It's such a shame because the author had a basis for a kickass story but it just didn't quite get there. Oh, then the ending! WTF?
December 9, 2014
This book deserves a lot more recognition than it has gotten, especially in Columbus, Mississippi, where the author lives and where the book is set. But people in small towns are funny — they don't always like to see themselves reflected back, especially if the view is anything less than heavily filtered.
I am a native of Mobile, Alabama and have traveled the South extensively. I lived in Columbus for two years and can attest that everything Ms. Elliott has written is an honest, if admittedly skewed, perspective of life there.
But here's the thing — fiction is always larger than life. The heroes are more heroic, the villains are more despicable, the challenges are greater, and the foibles are more pronounced. This is not a History of Columbus, nor is it a tourism brochure. It's a richly painted vignette of several subsections of life in this Southern small town. It is eclectic and eccentric, warm and vibrant, sad and funny, and all the things that make life an adventure and fiction a great escape.
There is a part of the South that few people understand, and Ms. Elliott has captured that brilliantly. Columbus is in the heart of the Bible Belt, where you are either Baptist or Baptist, and you either go to church on Sunday or you keep it to yourself if you elect to stay home.
But there is another side of the South, too — a rich depth brought to the region by the first slaves and continued today. Have you ever seen a blue bottle tree? They are in many Southern gardens, sometimes as eclectic art and sometimes for their original purpose — to ward off evil spirits by dazzling them with the sun's reflection and trapping them inside the bottle. You will hear some old Southerners — black and white — talk about "haints" or even say, "I look like a haint today." Haints are haunts, ghosts. In a region where death and tragedy is soaked into the soil, it's almost universally understood that the dead are never really gone. They are always with us, in some form or fashion, even if just in memory.
So what does that have to do with "Friendship Cemetery"? Everything. I've seen several people say the plot is far-fetched, from the children playing in the cemetery to the healer-woman to the haughty society ladies who rule All Things Good and Proper in Southern life. Trust me — all of that, including the various plot twists, are extremely plausible and even common.
I found this book to be a special treat, because I know all the streets, businesses, and people so well. Palmer Home and Thrift Store really exists. College Street, Southside, the little houses where Althee and Tyrone live, the Confederate soldier outside the courthouse, the lovely gingko tree outside Annunciation Catholic Church, The Commercial Dispatch and Columbus Packet newspapers, the bickering county supervisors, the Historical Commission, the convenience store near the cemetery, the train tracks that encircle Friendship, Rosenzweig Arts Center — all of those places are real and are as described, though depending on which side of the tracks you are on, you may or may not agree with the description.
Friendship Cemetery is a real place. And in the back, there really is a gently sloping hill where cemetery workers toss flowers and detritus, and people hang out for all sorts of reasons, some innocent and some not so innocent. As for the supernatural, there is a stone angel there — the one whose hand is on the cover of the book — and people say if you slip your hand in hers, the hand is warm, no matter the weather. I've tried it. It's true. Why? I can't tell you. Some things in this world are beyond explanation, and whether you believe in God or voodoo, the fact remains the same: There are things we mortals just can't understand. Every year, during the Spring Pilgrimage (which is also real), there is a performance in the cemetery called "Tales from the Crypt." The past is very, very alive here.
The artists she describes with their primitive mixed media pieces, are also absolutely authentic, and many people around the world collect their work. Some may scoff; others pay thousands to have a particularly unique piece.
But I digress. About the book — The plot moves quickly and caught my attention right away. It's a quick, easy read that I finished within a few hours. There is no foul language or violence, and though there are one or two adult themes, it's nothing that wouldn't be OK for even a middle school or high school library (unless you believe in book burning, in which case this isn't your book).
The book is written in first-person, which was a good choice as it immerses you in the main character's head and avoids the annoyance of an omniscient narrator. If I had to quibble, I would say that I also pictured the main character as being somewhere between 14 and 16 rather than 18, but it wasn't something that bothered me one way or the other. The mother is a bit two-dimensional, but it doesn't matter. That also works in this case, because that is the way the main character sees her mother. Children rarely see all the deeper facets of their parents' personalities.
There's enough foreshadowing to keep you interested, and though I figured out some of the plot points quickly, it didn't make them any less engaging.
Oddly, the book made me miss Columbus. I would love to meet Althee and Tyrone, Pea and Beau and Ned — I liked them all.
A thoroughly engaging read that is as deep or as superficial as you care to get. It's a deceptively light-hearted look at the secrets families keep, the side effects of carrying those secrets for too long, and the terrible injustices that can occur when people make snap judgments based on little more than their own biases and need to fit in. One of the scariest phrases you will ever hear is, "But we've always done it that way." It's something you'll hear often in Columbus and across the South. It usually precedes great injustices.
But there is an undercurrent of acceptance in Ms. Elliott's treatment of the city and its people. An understanding that they are who they are because of belief systems that have taken decades to develop and will take decades more to untangle. Those elaborate caste systems and concrete walls are erected in ignorance and self-preservation, but the builders of those walls often pay the price in friendships they will never make and experiences they will never have.
Most books by local authors are riddled with errors and afflicted with poor writing. This book is one of the best I've seen. Will it become a classic piece of literature? Probably not, but it bears more than a few resemblances to that other hallowed classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird."
It's a startlingly good book and a noteworthy first effort by an author I suspect you'll be hearing a lot more from over the next few years.
Well done, Ms. Elliott. Well done.
I am a native of Mobile, Alabama and have traveled the South extensively. I lived in Columbus for two years and can attest that everything Ms. Elliott has written is an honest, if admittedly skewed, perspective of life there.
But here's the thing — fiction is always larger than life. The heroes are more heroic, the villains are more despicable, the challenges are greater, and the foibles are more pronounced. This is not a History of Columbus, nor is it a tourism brochure. It's a richly painted vignette of several subsections of life in this Southern small town. It is eclectic and eccentric, warm and vibrant, sad and funny, and all the things that make life an adventure and fiction a great escape.
There is a part of the South that few people understand, and Ms. Elliott has captured that brilliantly. Columbus is in the heart of the Bible Belt, where you are either Baptist or Baptist, and you either go to church on Sunday or you keep it to yourself if you elect to stay home.
But there is another side of the South, too — a rich depth brought to the region by the first slaves and continued today. Have you ever seen a blue bottle tree? They are in many Southern gardens, sometimes as eclectic art and sometimes for their original purpose — to ward off evil spirits by dazzling them with the sun's reflection and trapping them inside the bottle. You will hear some old Southerners — black and white — talk about "haints" or even say, "I look like a haint today." Haints are haunts, ghosts. In a region where death and tragedy is soaked into the soil, it's almost universally understood that the dead are never really gone. They are always with us, in some form or fashion, even if just in memory.
So what does that have to do with "Friendship Cemetery"? Everything. I've seen several people say the plot is far-fetched, from the children playing in the cemetery to the healer-woman to the haughty society ladies who rule All Things Good and Proper in Southern life. Trust me — all of that, including the various plot twists, are extremely plausible and even common.
I found this book to be a special treat, because I know all the streets, businesses, and people so well. Palmer Home and Thrift Store really exists. College Street, Southside, the little houses where Althee and Tyrone live, the Confederate soldier outside the courthouse, the lovely gingko tree outside Annunciation Catholic Church, The Commercial Dispatch and Columbus Packet newspapers, the bickering county supervisors, the Historical Commission, the convenience store near the cemetery, the train tracks that encircle Friendship, Rosenzweig Arts Center — all of those places are real and are as described, though depending on which side of the tracks you are on, you may or may not agree with the description.
Friendship Cemetery is a real place. And in the back, there really is a gently sloping hill where cemetery workers toss flowers and detritus, and people hang out for all sorts of reasons, some innocent and some not so innocent. As for the supernatural, there is a stone angel there — the one whose hand is on the cover of the book — and people say if you slip your hand in hers, the hand is warm, no matter the weather. I've tried it. It's true. Why? I can't tell you. Some things in this world are beyond explanation, and whether you believe in God or voodoo, the fact remains the same: There are things we mortals just can't understand. Every year, during the Spring Pilgrimage (which is also real), there is a performance in the cemetery called "Tales from the Crypt." The past is very, very alive here.
The artists she describes with their primitive mixed media pieces, are also absolutely authentic, and many people around the world collect their work. Some may scoff; others pay thousands to have a particularly unique piece.
But I digress. About the book — The plot moves quickly and caught my attention right away. It's a quick, easy read that I finished within a few hours. There is no foul language or violence, and though there are one or two adult themes, it's nothing that wouldn't be OK for even a middle school or high school library (unless you believe in book burning, in which case this isn't your book).
The book is written in first-person, which was a good choice as it immerses you in the main character's head and avoids the annoyance of an omniscient narrator. If I had to quibble, I would say that I also pictured the main character as being somewhere between 14 and 16 rather than 18, but it wasn't something that bothered me one way or the other. The mother is a bit two-dimensional, but it doesn't matter. That also works in this case, because that is the way the main character sees her mother. Children rarely see all the deeper facets of their parents' personalities.
There's enough foreshadowing to keep you interested, and though I figured out some of the plot points quickly, it didn't make them any less engaging.
Oddly, the book made me miss Columbus. I would love to meet Althee and Tyrone, Pea and Beau and Ned — I liked them all.
A thoroughly engaging read that is as deep or as superficial as you care to get. It's a deceptively light-hearted look at the secrets families keep, the side effects of carrying those secrets for too long, and the terrible injustices that can occur when people make snap judgments based on little more than their own biases and need to fit in. One of the scariest phrases you will ever hear is, "But we've always done it that way." It's something you'll hear often in Columbus and across the South. It usually precedes great injustices.
But there is an undercurrent of acceptance in Ms. Elliott's treatment of the city and its people. An understanding that they are who they are because of belief systems that have taken decades to develop and will take decades more to untangle. Those elaborate caste systems and concrete walls are erected in ignorance and self-preservation, but the builders of those walls often pay the price in friendships they will never make and experiences they will never have.
Most books by local authors are riddled with errors and afflicted with poor writing. This book is one of the best I've seen. Will it become a classic piece of literature? Probably not, but it bears more than a few resemblances to that other hallowed classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird."
It's a startlingly good book and a noteworthy first effort by an author I suspect you'll be hearing a lot more from over the next few years.
Well done, Ms. Elliott. Well done.
February 10, 2014
This was definitely my favorite book I read so far this year. I was lucky enough to win this from goodreads.com and it came with a post-it with a message and a Friendship Cemetery bookmark which I thought was awesome.
It is about Emma Grace, an 18 year old girl who has no friends, but is really nice and very funny. She has a mom who is a little weird and always asking Emma to pull a brush through her hair, or ask her "Are you going out like that?" Her mother has no real job, so she does tons of volunteer work and is always worried about what everyone in town thinks. Emma's father is dead. But Emma is not sure if this is really true but cannot prove it. She misses him dearly.
Emma wants to be a ghost hunter. She got a break from college so right now, she is free to do as she pleases. She spends time at Friendship Cemetery when she can. She wants a message from her father if he is in fact dead. She sees something one day that she thinks is most certainly an illusion. A very small girl.
But it is no illusion. The girl is Pea, or Princess Kamara as her mom calls her. And Pea lost her father as well and has seen him in the cemetery. Although Emma was nervous, she talked to Pea one day and they became very good friends. Pea looks different because she has dwarfism. But she is so creative and good hearted, the two become instant friends.
Also someone hanging around in the cemetery is Tyrone. He is always asking for change and his mother, Althee, is the town healer. People go to her because they believe she can heal with her potions and words. Emma also becomes friends with Althee one day when she falls off of her bike and Althee helps her to clean the wound.
We also have Beau who Emma has a crush on. And Pea too.
This is about their lives in Columbus, Mississippi. You go on a journey with Emma as she starts to meet more people and finds out all the towns hidden secrets. Not to mention secrets that her mother has been keeping from her for years.
The writing was superb. You become so invested in the characters. They all have their own lovable quirks that make them memorable and special. Adele Elliot can sure tell a story.
The ending was a total shock. What a twist! I was left dumbfounded. But it was so worth the read.
I loved the Epilogue also. It helped to tie up some loose ends.
I can give you some more facts but the reality is this is one of those books that you just have to read. There is so much emotion. Love, humor, sadness, rejection, anger, etc. You just have to step into Emma's shoes and take the journey with her.
I highly recommend this book to any book lover.
It is about Emma Grace, an 18 year old girl who has no friends, but is really nice and very funny. She has a mom who is a little weird and always asking Emma to pull a brush through her hair, or ask her "Are you going out like that?" Her mother has no real job, so she does tons of volunteer work and is always worried about what everyone in town thinks. Emma's father is dead. But Emma is not sure if this is really true but cannot prove it. She misses him dearly.
Emma wants to be a ghost hunter. She got a break from college so right now, she is free to do as she pleases. She spends time at Friendship Cemetery when she can. She wants a message from her father if he is in fact dead. She sees something one day that she thinks is most certainly an illusion. A very small girl.
But it is no illusion. The girl is Pea, or Princess Kamara as her mom calls her. And Pea lost her father as well and has seen him in the cemetery. Although Emma was nervous, she talked to Pea one day and they became very good friends. Pea looks different because she has dwarfism. But she is so creative and good hearted, the two become instant friends.
Also someone hanging around in the cemetery is Tyrone. He is always asking for change and his mother, Althee, is the town healer. People go to her because they believe she can heal with her potions and words. Emma also becomes friends with Althee one day when she falls off of her bike and Althee helps her to clean the wound.
We also have Beau who Emma has a crush on. And Pea too.
This is about their lives in Columbus, Mississippi. You go on a journey with Emma as she starts to meet more people and finds out all the towns hidden secrets. Not to mention secrets that her mother has been keeping from her for years.
The writing was superb. You become so invested in the characters. They all have their own lovable quirks that make them memorable and special. Adele Elliot can sure tell a story.
The ending was a total shock. What a twist! I was left dumbfounded. But it was so worth the read.
I loved the Epilogue also. It helped to tie up some loose ends.
I can give you some more facts but the reality is this is one of those books that you just have to read. There is so much emotion. Love, humor, sadness, rejection, anger, etc. You just have to step into Emma's shoes and take the journey with her.
I highly recommend this book to any book lover.
October 6, 2013
This novel is one of the most beautiful and ethereal stories I have read in a long while.
Emma Grace is an 18 year old girl living in Columbus, Mississippi with her over protective mother. Her artist father is dead after falling into the river in New Orleans.
Emma spends time in the local graveyard in the hope that she will see the ghost of her father and there she meets Princess Kamara (aka Pea), a young girl with arty qualities and Tyrone, a cheeky young scamp.
When Pea's and Tyrone's mothers come into the story secrets start to unravel about Emma's dad, all building to a final scene that will live in the reader's mind for a long, long time.
The storytelling is excellent, evoking a real feel for the american south, and characters with a sense of the fairytale.
Emma Grace is an 18 year old girl living in Columbus, Mississippi with her over protective mother. Her artist father is dead after falling into the river in New Orleans.
Emma spends time in the local graveyard in the hope that she will see the ghost of her father and there she meets Princess Kamara (aka Pea), a young girl with arty qualities and Tyrone, a cheeky young scamp.
When Pea's and Tyrone's mothers come into the story secrets start to unravel about Emma's dad, all building to a final scene that will live in the reader's mind for a long, long time.
The storytelling is excellent, evoking a real feel for the american south, and characters with a sense of the fairytale.
March 25, 2014
A haunting and mesmerising tale centred around Emma Grace, an 18-year old girl living in Columbus Mississippi and her relationship with her mother and her friends, especially Pea - a strange and mysterious girl with a fascinating background. Pea's mother is another well-crafted character as is Emma's mother, both of them hiding secrets of their own. The pace is gentle, the cast eccentric and you can feel the heat of the deep south rising from it's very pages - enough almost to warm English bones! A fascinating insight into small town life and those who live there. The ending was a complete surprise and will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.
December 21, 2014
This book kept me spellbound from start to finish!
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters, although Emma Grace and Althee were my favorites.
I must say that the ending took me completely by surprise!
I would recommend this book to anyone with any interest in the paranormal and a well-spun story!
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters, although Emma Grace and Althee were my favorites.
I must say that the ending took me completely by surprise!
I would recommend this book to anyone with any interest in the paranormal and a well-spun story!
May 15, 2014
Such a good story and a sad ending with a lot of good things too.
February 14, 2014
It's always interesting to read about where you live. The ending had a twist and I had to laugh when I saw what was happening.
December 26, 2015
Great quick read
Having visited Columbus on several occasions felt like I knew everyone
Having visited Columbus on several occasions felt like I knew everyone
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews