Southern Porch Settin'

by Reed Tait

Essie Sullivan de Long and Delia Jane Harwell Jarrett are best friends. They like to sit together on the porch at Essie's house and drink coffee, while indulging in their homemade desserts. And they talk about everything. Their story, set in the present-day deep South, is of two grandmothers who have known each other since high school. They face their daily lives and the way they deal with their circumstances, their grown children, faded youth, health problems and life in general, is with their dry sense of humor. This, and a backbone of tempered steel is what allows them to get through the everyday aggravations of life in the “Gray Lane”. Essie thinks she knows everything about Delia Jane. After all, they've been friends for almost 50 years. When the late-night phone call comes, she discovers she doesn’t know diddley-squat about Delia’s life after all. Essie has to help her friend who, having just shot a man, is in desperate circumstances, and we find that these two old ladies aren’t just the sweet little AARP Card Carrying cookie-bakers they may appear to be at first glance.

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2015

About the author

Reed Tait is the pseudonym for a pair of grandmothers who live in Alabama, one in a rural area outside Birmingham, the other in a rural area outside Mobile. They are both retired, one from a business career, the other from the medical field.

This book was written for fun. The co-authors each think the other one is funny, but they also felt they had something to say that others might like to read. While their book targets those who are interested in what life was like in the "olden days", it is especially targeted towards women who lived during those years and had many of the same life experiences as the main characters, Delia and Essie.

Reviews

[Mary Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really Bad.

The characters are interchangeable. It was very confusing to keep up with family stories. I don’t understand why a great,great grandmother’s story is plopped in near the end. And then there’s the Big Secret. Such a waste.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belly-Laugh Funny

A fictional stream-of-consciousness story that puts you on the porch with these two women as they are shelling peas and eating cake made with a new recipe. I’ve been there many times with my great-grandmother and my aunts, but I didn’t have the good sense to write it all down. You get to know every child and what ails them, every husband - which ones were keepers and which ones were intolerable. But it was what happened to Uncle Jimmy that put the icing on the cake. Read it to find out!

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

This book is one that is where you learn how women had to work so hard to raise children and more.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just didn't get it. Not m uch of a plot. It seemed the characters speaking were intermixed and I sometimes didn't know who was saying what. Just not my cup of tea!

[Donna Duggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Southern life

Not much of a story. More about 2 little southern ladies and talking about their younger life. Unfortunately the best part was at the end.