Susan Crandall

It seems like there have been a lot of books in the past few years addressing the racially charged sixties. And in many of them black women work for white families and care for white children. Susan Crandall's new novel, Whistling Past the Graveyard, is both similar to and very different from these other books and will likely draw comparisons to the biggest names in the past few years. But it is its own story and an engaging one at that.

It's 1963 in Mississippi and nine year old Starla show more Claudelle is a precocious, curious, and spunky child. She lives with her grandmother, Mamie, because her own mother took off for Nashville to sing when Starla was small and her father works offshore on an oil rig to support his mother and his daughter. Mamie is a strict and overly harsh guardian, punishing the child for every transgression and never showing her positive attention or love, resenting having to raise her granddaughter. Starla knows that Mamie treats her the way she does because she wants to keep Starla from turning out like her no-good, flighty mother, not that Starla accepts her grandmother's judgment of her mother's character. And so when Starla is unjustly grounded from the local Fourth of July parade because of misbehavior, it is the last straw for her. She goes anyway. When she's seen there, rather than face her grandmother's wrath over her defiance, she makes the spur of the moment decision to run away to find her mother.

Trudging down the road in the staggering heat, she is ultimately picked up by a black woman returning home from delivering pies in town. But Eula is not alone; there's a bundled baby on the floor of her truck, a baby who can't possibly belong to Eula because this baby is white. It turns out that Eula has scooped baby James up from the church steps where she saw another black maid deposit him. Promising that she'll get Starla to her momma in Nashville another day, she takes both Starla and the baby to her home deep in woods, where they have to face Eula's husband, the scary and violent Wallace. After a terrible confrontation with him, Eula flees with Starla and baby James on a weeks lone road trip to Nashville. And along the way Starla sees firsthand the tenseness, hatred, and injustices of the time, the fear and effects of the burgeoning civil rights movement, but also the innate goodness of some people.

Telling the story from Starla's innocent, love-starved perspective made the sadness and loneliness of both Starla and Eula's lives that much more affecting. And Crandall has done a very good job writing a child's eye view of the times, capturing her innocence and her confusion at the injustice she sees around her. Both Starla and Eula are wonderful, authentic, and well-written characters. The history of the times weaves through the story but doesn't overwhelm it, keeping it at the level that a child Starla's age would be aware of and understand given the time and place of her upbringing. The plot moves along at a good pace and the reader is anxious to see what will happen next. An entertaining read about the resilience of people's hearts, weathering disappointment, and forging a family out of the people who love you rather than just the people who share your blood, you'll fall in love with Starla and ache for Eula in all her yawning sadness. Emotional and thought provoking, this is truly a delightful novel that will keep you hoping for the right outcome for both Starla and Eula until the turn of the very last page. show less

In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s Mississippi home. Starla’s destination is Nashville, where her mother went to become a famous singer, abandoning Starla when she was three. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. Now, on the road trip that will change her life forever, Starla sees for the first time life as it really is, as she reaches for a dream of how show more it could one day be.
I grew up in the 1950's south, and my very dearest and best friend was a little black girl named Cordelia. Reading this book, I found myself placing Cordelia in Starla's shoes. Unfortunately, those shoes fit her very well. My friend, Cordelia never had a bad homelife, but she did have to adhere to, what I thought were some ridicules "rules" set by the society of that time. I know that some of the issues that Starla faced on her journey to find her mother, would have been ones that my friend would, in reality had to face if she had made the same journey that Starla made.

It's a "coming-of-age" story that will stay with you for quite some time. Nine-year-old Starla Claudelle will absolutely steal your heart away right from the very first page. It's the summer of 1963 in Mississippi. Segregation is in full force, and civil rights demonstrations are just starting. Starla, lives with, and is being raised, by her "Mamie", who is her father's mother. Her father works on the offshore oil rigs, so she doesn't see him as much as she'd like to. Starla has not seen her mother since she was three-years old. She hardly remembers what she looks like. Her mother took off to Nashville to try to become a recording star. She's almost an entire story by herself.

When Starla and her grandmother have another fight, and after yet being grounded again as punishment, Starla decides to run away and go to find her mother that lives in Nashville. Starla has no idea that Nashville is 600 miles away from her home in Mississippi, but she sets off anyway.

While she's walking a lonely country road, she accepts a ride from a black woman who has a white newborn baby in her car, taking him to a family that has adopted him. This begins Starla's big adventure...the journey that will forever change her life.

The story brings out so many emotions. You'll laughed and you'll cry with plucky little Starla. It's a wonderful story and I highly recommend it. I couldn't put it down and read it in just half a day. It's not a very long book, but it's packed from the from front to the back cover with true humanity. show less

I received this book as an advanced reader e-book through Net Galley. From the beginning I found myself captivated by 9 year old Starla's character. She is feisty, rough-and-tumble, goes to bat for the underdog and yet she is seemingly unaware of her own sense of value or place in the world. Her father works on an oil rig, her mother is in Nashville, and she lives with her paternal grandmother who lacks warmth and love; she is afraid Starla will grow up "trashy" like her mother. When show more Starla's "red-rages" get her into trouble she decides to run away to live with her mother in Nashville, 600 miles away from her hometown. Almost from the start, Starla runs into trouble, but in her quest she discovers herself and her place in the world, along with true love and friendship.

I was reminded of The Secret Life of Bees; the setting is similar - a young girl traveling with a black female friend in the midst of the American south during the early 1960's and the Civil Rights movement. Similar to Lily in The Secret Life of Bees, Starla is seeking her mother, and is running from a grandmother reminiscent of the character of T-Ray in Bees.

This well written story is dark yet entirely captivating. As a heroine, Starla, in her young life, has to learn to endure situations and experience tragedies no parent would wish for their children. I would recommend this book to those who loved The Secret Life of Bees; it will not disappoint. show less

WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD by Susan Crandall
I was a white, Northern, college girl who had always attended integrated schools in 1963when this book takes place. I was shocked at the historically correct, blatant, racism portrayed in this book of southern Mississippi. If you are offended or triggered by historically correct terms, don’t read this book.
That said, I loved this book. I loved Starla, the 10-year-old runaway: Eula, the young “colored” woman who befriends Starla; and show more Starla’s father. The characters are wonderful, clearly drawn and “real.” The time period and locale (1963 Mississippi) are shown with all the warts in place. The story is part coming of age, part social history and part murder mystery. The parts work together in a seamless tale that enthralls from the first page to the last.
If Crandall’s other books are as good as this one, I have reading material for a month or two (I’m a fast reader). Book groups will have a wealth of discussion material with Starla and Eula. The book would lead to a great parent/child discussion.
5 of 5 stars show less