The Dry Grass of August: A Moving Southern Coming of Age Novel

Anna Jean Mayhew

pri 2011 · Kensington Books

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In the segregated South, a young girl’s life is changed forever: “A beautifully written literary novel [and] a real page-turner.” —Lee Smith, New York Times-bestselling author of Blue Marlin
 
On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family’s black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there—cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father’s rages and her mother’s benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally.
 
Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents’ failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence . . .
 
Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage that can transform us—from child to adult, from wounded to indomitable.
 
 “Taut, thoughtful and complex.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“A must-read for fans of The Help.” —Woman’s World
 
“An ending so shocking and real it had me in tears.” —Eleanor Brown, New York Times-bestselling author of The Weird Sisters

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Anna Jean (A.J.) Mayhew’s first novel, The Dry Grass of August, won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, and was a finalist for the Book Award from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. She has been writer-in-residence at Moulin à Nef Studio Center in Auvillar, France, and was a member of the first Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Writers' Network. A native of Charlotte, NC, A.J. has never lived outside the state, although she often travels to Europe with her Swiss-born husband. Her work reflects her vivid memories of growing up in the segregated South. A.J.—a mother and grandmother—now lives in a small town in the North Carolina Piedmont with her husband and their French-speaking cat.