Taking Lottie Home

by Terry Kay

Taking Lottie Home is a story of generations bound inexplicably together by "the odd way that life, or circumstance, bumps people around, sends them colliding into one another." It is an elegantly written story of love given, love returned, and love remembered that no reader will ever forget. When Foster Lanier and Ben Phelps are released from a professional baseball team in 1904, it is the only experience they have in common until they meet a runaway--a girl-woman named Lottie Parker--on the train that takes them from Augusta, Georgia, and away from their dreams of greatness. Foster will marry her and father her son. Ben will escort her home. And Lottie will change the lives of everyone she meets from the day she runs away until she finally finds the place where she belongs. The story of Lottie reveals the life of a rare woman who never completely loses the innocence of her dreams--although she leaves home as a prostitute and works the girlie tent in a traveling carnival. Her marriage to Foster and the birth of her son are part of her dream. Having Ben care for her following Foster's death, being accepted into the home of Margaret Phelps, Ben's mother, and meeting Arthur Ledford, the father of Ben's fiancee are fragments of the dream as well. With a turn-of-the-century setting affected by lingering memories of the Civil War and Reconstruction and by startling promises of a new world--electricity, the telephone, the airplane, the automobile--Terry Kay returns with a story that honors the amazing capacity we have to love and care for one another that earned him international praise for his novel To Dance with the White Dog.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Southern, Book Club, Sports, Baseball

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

TERRY KAY, a 2006 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, is the author of The Book of Marie, recently released by Mercer University Press. Kay has been a sports writer and film/theater reviewer (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), a public relations executive, and a corporate officer. He is the author of nine other published novels, including To Dance with the White Dog, The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home, The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene, Shadow Song, The Runaway, Dark Thirty, After Eli, and The Year the Lights Came On, as well as a book of essays (Special K) and a childrens book (To Whom the Angel Spoke)."

Reviews

[Lee Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! I read To Dance with the White Dog years ago and have been meaning to pick up another Terry Kay novel and I'm so glad I did. He's an excellent writer - I found myself writing down sentences here and there throughout the book because I just loved the way he put the words together.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a undefined weakness for southern writers. This is my fourth Terry Kay book and I have loved each of them. When I read a Terry Kay book I read it from the heart, because that is where his stories take up residence in me. His books are achingly beautiful. Every sentence contributes to the telling, like every brushstroke contributes to a painting; a intimate journey into the palate of human emotion.

[Tami Alwran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! One of the books that you hate to come to an end as the characters feel like old friends.

[Sam A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terry Kay is a fine story teller of the first order. About a month ago I read his To Dance With the White Dog and was so impressed with his writing and pledged to read more of his work in the future. "White Dog" was so good that I thought that anything that I read by Mr. Kay would pale in comparison. Well I was wrong. Taking Lottie Home was every bit as good a story. Terry Kay has the ability to create characters that I find myself caring about as if I actually know them. This book centers around a young man who had dreams of playing professional baseball only to be cut from the team after making a spectacular catch that fans loved. Ben Phelps has followed his childhood friend Milo Ward to play in a professional farm league team. Milo has become quite a star in the league and is destined to be sent up to star in the major league in Boston. Unfortunately for Ben his fielding talents were not enough to overcome his lack of batting brilliance. The other player that is cut from the team is an older, once great player, Foster Lanier, whose career has been in decline in recent years. This odd couple of former baseball players are taking the train to their respective homes, Ben's in the little town of Jericho, Georgia and Foster's in backwoods Kentucky. On the train they meet a traveling salesman who is accompanied by a young girl named Lottie. Foster shares a bottle of whiskey with the salesman and Ben parts company with them when he reaches his hometown. Years pass and Ben and Foster are reunited when they meet at a carnival that is visiting Jericho. Foster is part of an attraction featuring him as a one-legged catcher (Foster) and a one-armed pitcher where participants are rewarded if they can get a hit off of the pitcher. Foster recognizes Ben and helps him get the only hit off the giant one-armed pitcher, making Ben a local hero. Lottie has taken up with Foster and has been traveling with the carnival. A number of events occur with Ben being beaten badly by the pitcher and the pitcher later found murdered. Foster and Lottie leave town after seeing that Ben receives medical attention. Years later Ben hears from Foster and Lottie asking him to come to Kentucky as Foster is dying and he gets Ben's promise to take Lottie and their young son back home after Foster passes away. The story that follows Foster's demise is very involved and telling any more would be filled with spoilers. Needless to say this was one of those books that was hard to put down and was one that you didn't want to end.

[JerrieGayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Terry Kay’s books. I read “To Dance with the White Dog”’ years ago and it has stayed with me. This one will stay with me as well. This is a character-driven quiet story. I laughed and cried while reading this book. I was shocked by more than one revelation! And cried at the end because of the lines on the headstone. The characters of this book will be in my heart forever!! They seem like real people..with all the emotions and faults that real people suffer through.

Anyone who enjoys both the books mentioned here, should also read Terry Kay’s “The Year the Lights Came On” and “The Valley of Light”.

[Ruby Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a absolutely amazing story. I loved the characters & how it drew you in. It is a book that I will re-read many time. This is the first book I have read from Terry Kay but I have already downloaded 3 more of his books & look forward to being taken in by the stories.

It is so refreshing to read such a wonderful book. I read it in one setting.

This is a must read for anyone who truly reads to be so immersed in the story that you feel you are there & can watch it like a movie in your mind.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 1 1/2 stars, mostly for the lovely prose. Otherwise I just wondered what the point was of this book. Ben takes Lottie and her son home after she faces a tragedy. She loves him, he maybe mighta kinda sorta loves her. He also loves another woman. He marries that other woman. The other woman's father is in love with Lottie. Lottie leaves town but abandons her son. There's also a murder or two tossed in, along with batshit crazy relatives, baseball, and drunks. And a circus. Yeah, it just wasn't good.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He had not seen the midget huddled on the table, his body folded tight like a sleeping bat." (chapter 5)

"A scent of woodsmoke, he thought. Maybe from Foster's cabin. Or maybe it was not woodsmoke, but the scent of the woods damp with water from rain or from seepage puddling into shallow pockets of springs." (chapter 10)

"'You just got to talk mush-talk and keep him fed and watered and scratch his belly once in a while, and when he starts to wagging his tail, it'll be you he's wagging it at.'" (chapter 19)

[Carol Lander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't hand out 5 stars frequently, and I'm not giving this novel 5 stars because it is epic, but because it is a very well-told story. It is an unusual story, and parts of it remind me of Wendell Berry's (I'm a huge fan) books. The characters are real, as though you know them in your own life. Even the prologue is intriguing.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't read Terry Kay you are missing one of the best. I sigh with pleasure as I finish one of his works of fiction that are as real as possible. His characters are painted so clearly you would recognize them on any back road. I will work my way through all of his books with delight and take my time on each phrase and paragraph - they are that well written and poetic.

[Lee Thames · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not expecting this story.

A coming of age tale about a 20 year old, a 35 year old and a 45 year old. All men. Taking place the years before The Great War.

A story about giving and caring beginning at the end of spring training for a minor league ball club in Augusta, Georgia.

[Joann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kay brings to life the small community atmosphere just before WWI, all the usual characters are there but he does not over draw them. Though the story was about Ben, I did not find him to be the strongest character in the book.

[Yogi Khalsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning!

Complete as a novel, a story from page one through the end. Great character development, I’m going to read it again. By the time I realized what a great book I was reading, I had already let too much get by me. It’s not often i come across a book like that.

[Leo W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another nicely told Kay tale, has that simpler times feel to it.

[Lotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply loved this story. doesn't happen often, one of the books I will always cherish.

[Gail Berger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interestingly written and different type of story. Seems like a non fiction, but isn't, but really good

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too slow for my taste.

[Kivrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of book, but it had its moments.

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this author

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better reads of the year. I just could not put it down, and I’m sad that I’ve finished.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the beautiful way this book was written. It seemed so real.

[Kristi Bumpus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently I’m just not a Terry Kay fan.

[Melinda Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started slow, but what a book….well written, emotionally strong.

[Karen Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book!

This is one of the best books I’ve read in awhile. One that will stay with me for a long time.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not my genre. And I didn't find myself liking any of the characters, so it was hard to get invested.

[Angelyn Vaughan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second book by Terry Kay, and confirmed that he's probably my favorite active author. I'm sure it helps that he writes in a convincing, distinctly Southern voice and tells beautiful stories of places I've lived. This book was lighter and less ambitious than The Runaway, but handled personalities and relationships much more delicately. Few writers can so masterfully create characters like Lottie, Ben, Foster, and Arthur, and weave their stories together in the perfect way. The book seems to be about ordinary people living fairly ordinary lives, but it's really about extraordinary relationships and filling each other's loneliness in unexpected ways. Beautiful.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface, Taking Lottie Home may seem like a sports story, but it is so much more. Ben Phelps has no idea what he's in for after he's released from his professional baseball contract and decides to look up one of his teammates who is gravely ill.

Taking his friend's wife, Lottie and her young son home turns out to be more than Ben bargained for, but his commitment never wavers.

Terry Kay's writing is so natural and conversational, you feel as if you're living every line.

Highly recommended by this reader.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This southern tale by Georgia author Terry Kay is full of vivid characters and beautiful details of the setting. The tale is full of melancholy and reminds me other southern tales where things don't turn out quite right; nevertheless, the southern spirit goes on. As a baseball fan, I enjoyed the beginning of the story. I felt that the story got bogged down about 2/3 of the way in as it seemed to take too long to reach a conclusion the reader had predicted some time ago. If you enjoy southern fiction with realistic characters and a vivid setting, you will enjoy this book

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok. Very well written, enjoyable story, but I just couldn't get behind parts of it. I thought as a whole it was very sad. I guess that's just life though. There's not always a profound reason for purpose for the things that happen to us.

I originally bought this book with a chuckle because my grandmother is named Lottie. She has alzheimers and unfortunately she doesn't recognize her home anymore. So she's always telling us to take her home, she wants to go home.

[Marge Rudman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terry Kay is a master story-teller. Period. Sometimes I'm so pulled along by the story, I don't linger long enough over the beautiful prose. This time, at a crucial point, I went ahead to the epilog and satisfied my curiosity and then returned to where I'd left off. I must say, I enjoyed the novel tremendously that way. I've read 4 Terry Kay novels now and am so impressed with the ways he finds to end his stories.