Grandma Olivia died and the funeral was packed. It seemed like all of the black church ladies of Baltimore brought various dishes and were making sure that those who took ate every scrap. Unfortunately, Felicia took a piece of fried chicken before remembering that she didn't eat meat-luckily her mother Ellen, Olivia's daughter, helped her out after the expected lecture. Felicia was definitely not herself, having been recently dumped by her husband in favor of his business associate. Felicia's daughter, sixteen year old April was impressed that her great-grandmother's funeral brought her great aunt Mona, the black sheep of the family, back from Oregon where she had lived away from her family for years. Mona had been in love with a man from Oregon, but when he decided to flee to Canada to evade the VietNam War, she decided not to follow him. She studied hard, got her doctorate and had been a professor at an Oregon college-she knew her sister Olivia was dying but didn't even come home to say goodbye.. The rest of the family wasn't too pleased to see her now.
The next day, the family gathered at Olivia's attorney's office for the reading of the will. They thought it would be a simple matter-Olivia didn't have much left, but grandma still had some surprises. According to Olivia's video, her children Ellen and brother Teddy were gifted her house, and any other settlements of monetary holdings, great-granddaughter April would get her car, and granddaughter Felicia was instructed to take Aunt Mona, Ellen, and April on a vacation to New Orleans. She was given custody of the fifteen thousand dollars Olivia budgeted to cover the trip and instructions to book the vacation at a specific B&B. In fact, Olivia left an envelope every day with the B&B owner for Felicia as to what they were supposed to do and see-it was well thought out. Aunt Mona, who had invested in a certain pacific northwestern shoe company start-up and wanted to high-tail it back to her bougie life in Oregon, was stopped in her tracks by the attorney's caveat. No one would get anything if all four didn't go together-it was to be an all or nothing adventure. Mona reluctantly acquiesced.
The novel portrayed four distinct generations of women who had to resolve their differences, their choices in partners, and the years of missed opportunities and misunderstandings. Of course the city of New Orleans was a character too-the scenery, the music, and the food certainly helped in healing this family. Even though there was much humor in the writing, the "big feelings" were serious and a lot of hurt and anxiety emerged before any forgiveness could be given. Could the matriarch fix from beyond the grave what couldn't be accomplished in her lifetime? Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
October 13, 2026
Reserve a physical copy - coming soon!
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