Calling Me Home: A Novel (original 2013; edition 2013)

by Julie Kibler

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Fiction. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML: A soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser, Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mother in her thirties, to drop everything and drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati�??with no clear explanation why�??tomorrow. Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives. Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship: they are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son's irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her. Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family's housekeeper�??in a town where blacks weren't allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own… (more)

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Member:	scoutlee
Title:	Calling Me Home: A Novel
Authors:	Julie Kibler
Info:	St. Martin's Press (2013), Hardcover, 336 pages
Collections:	Your library, Read but unowned, Favorites
Rating:
Tags:	new author 2013, debut 2013, read 2013, best of 2013, audiobook 2013, Ohio - Cincinnati, Texas, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, flashbacks, racial relations, recommend, female friendships

Work Information

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler (2013)

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English (73) Spanish (2) Dutch (1) French (1) Italian (1) All languages (78)

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Showing 1-5 of 73 (next | show all)

This was so good! I almost decided to read it later since I initially thought it was all set in the 30's but the balance of modern narrator and the 30's narrator kept it from getting too heavy and made it a very quick listen for me. The story itself was heart wrenching and touching, the power of good people when your family just isn't 'good people' really comes through in this story. (

)

hellokirsti | Jan 3, 2024 |

Very good book - esp. for her first novel. Sad, but unfortunately, a very likely true depiction of what life was like back then. (

)

JillHannah | Nov 20, 2023 |

A good read with surprises. Recommended.

FROM AMAZON: Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow.

Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.

Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship. They are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son's irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her.

Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family's housekeeper--in a town where blacks weren't allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own way. (

)

Gmomaj | Jan 2, 2023 |

“The color of their skin alone will determine the future.”

This is identifiably romantic drama, but it tells the truth. I can live with that. There are some decent people, but no pretending.

I know how true that (slightly altered to reduce the spoiler effect) line is, as people generally on some level do. I was so romantic; I really bought into the whole thing and wanted to believe in the whole thing. Hook line and sinker. (If love is good….) Eventually I changed in certain ways. There was a time I couldn’t have dreamt of touching a book like this; no, not for all the tea in China.

I don’t envy the people who with some consciousness of what’s happening choose, well, marriage. Well, I do envy them on a level or two, but I wouldn’t choose their condition, so I don’t really envy them. I find love in other ways. Yes, if the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain.

But the stories the aged tell when they consider life’s journey are certainly worth hearing.

…. In the end, you always have to choose how to live your life.

goosecap | Nov 2, 2021 |

This was a really good book with a great story told in a unique way. You will connect with these characters. Lot's of surprises and a wide range of emotions. (

)

Rick686ID | Jan 27, 2021 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Kibler, Julie	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Raver, Lorna	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Turpin, Bahni	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Canonical title

Calling Me Home

Original title

Calling me Home

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2013

People/Characters

Important places

Arlington, Texas, USA

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Shalerville, Kentucky

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Maar alles wat verloren is wordt door de engelen bewaard
liefste
Het verleden is niet dood voor ons maar slechts in slaap
liefste
Het kleine aardse verdriet zal in de hemel
snel vergeten zijn
want daar beginnen jij en ik opnieuw
in onze kindertijd

Uit het gedicht 'At Last' van Helen Hunt Jackson

But all lost things are in the angels keeping love, no past is dead for us, but only sleeping, love, The years of heaven will all earth's little pain make good, together there we can begin again, in babyhood. From Helen Hunt Jackson's Poem - "At Last"

Dedication

Voor oma, voor gemiste kansen

For Grandma, for what might have been

First words

Toen ik Dorrie leerde kennen, een jaar of tien geleden, deed ik heel onaardig tegen haar.

I acted hateful to Dorrie the 1st time we met, a decade or so ago.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Henry, Patti Callahan

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Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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Wikipedia in English

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:

A soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship

Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser, Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mother in her thirties, to drop everything and drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati�??with no clear explanation why�??tomorrow. Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.

Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship: they are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son's irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her. Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family's housekeeper�??in a town where blacks weren't allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own

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