I’m so excited about this week’s segment on THV11 This Morning y’all. And not just because you don’t have to get up before the crack to see it! Instead of 6:15 AM, tune in at 9 AM to catch this week’s feature which I’ll be sharing with my friend, Talya Boerner, author of The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee.

I’m sooooo excited I could just p… well, ya’ know. But southern girls don’t mention those things!

Ten-year-old Gracie Lee is the central character in Talya’s recently published debut novel — and one you just HAVE to read. Set in the Arkansas delta region of Mississippi County, Gracie Lee knows all too well the promises and pitfalls of growing up the daughter of a cotton farmer. Sometimes funny. Sometimes sad. Sometimes confused. She may remind you of Scout from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. 

Or she may remind you of yourself.

Accidental Salvation? What is that all about?

“Ten-year-old Gracie Lee knows a few things. She knows which trees are best for climbing. She knows how to walk through the hallway without making a sound on the hardwood floor. She knows if Daddy’s crop gets one more drop of rain, the whole family will pay the price.

There are plenty of things Gracie doesn’t know. These things keep her awake at night.

Gracie longs for something bigger and grander and truer, and feels certain there is more to life beyond school and dull church sermons. She worries about the soldiers in Vietnam and wonders what it must be like to have been born Lisa Marie Presley from Tennessee instead of Gracie Lee Abbott from Arkansas. Mostly, she wishes her Daddy wasn’t so mean.”

“Gracie’s unchecked imagination leads to adventure, and adventure leads to trouble. She confides in unexpected characters and seeks solace in a mysterious gray house beyond the cotton field. When Gracie faces a difficult family situation, she must make a life-altering decision, one that will test the very essence of her character.”

Talya will be talking about Gracie Lee Eudora Abbott, and I’ll be sharing some of Gracie Lee’s favorite foods that you’ll find on any honest-to-goodness southern table.

Funeral potatoes? Are you kidding me?

Photo Courtesy of Grace,Grits and Garden

You’re welcome to join us. We’ll set a place for you at the table.

Photo courtesy of Grace Grits and Garden