The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Karen White

In this beautifully written debut, Anna Jean Mayhew offers a riveting depiction of Southern life in the throes of segregation and what it will mean for a young girl on her way to adulthood—and for the woman who means the world to her.

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 of 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, wounded to indomitable.

“A haunting debut…Ms. Mayhew creates authentic characters and a Southern setting that will make you feel and smell a summer day from half a century ago.”—Karen White, New York Times bestselling author

“Written with unusual charm, wonderful dialogue, and a deeply felt sense of time and place, The Dry Grass of August is a book for adults and young people both—a beautifully written literary novel that is a real page-turner, I have to add. Fast, suspenseful, and meaningful. I read this book straight through.”—Lee Smith, New York Times bestselling author

“Mayhew grew up in Charlotte in the 1950s, so the voices ring unflinchingly true. Jubie is a compelling heroine in the mold of Lily Owens in The Secret Life of Bees. This mesmerizing story takes place when segregation is being challenged in the highways and byways of the Deep South, no matter what the Supreme Court has ruled. Local color dominates with a tent revival, a traveling carnival, Claxton fruitcakes, sandy white beaches, and white gloves and heels, as the setting emerges as a pivotal character in this important debut novel.”—VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

“A beautifully written and important novel. Set in the 1950s South, it deals with race relations in an original, powerful way. It’s also a great story about complicated family relationships, told with humor, delicacy, and penetrating insight. I wish I had written this book.”—Angela Davis-Gardner, author of Butterfly’s Child

“Deeply felt, lasting relationships formed in the mid-twentieth-century South between white families and the African American women who took care of them. In The Dry Grass of August, Mayhew explores the love and conflicting loyalties in one such extended family, adult and child, black and white. She does so with honesty and sympathy, intimate knowledge and valuable perspective, as well as beautiful writing. This is an important story about the Southern experience and the women who helped to form the American generation now at the peak of its powers.”—Peggy Payne, author of Sister India

Anna Jean Mayhew, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, has never lived outside the state, although she often travels to Europe with her Swiss-born husband. Much of her work reflects her vivid memories of growing up in the segregated South. She has been both production editor of a major medical journal and editor of a science fiction fan magazine. In earlier careers, she ran a court reporting agency and worked in opera management. She has been a member of the same writing group since 1987 and now leads two groups herself. She is a writer-in-residence at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities and a former member of the board of trustees of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. Her credits include a book of trivia about South Carolina, a guide for medical writing, and a story in Writers of the Future, Volume I. The Dry Grass of August is her first novel.

Karen White is a classically trained actress who has been recording and directing audiobooks for more than ten years. An Audie Award finalist and Best Audiobook of the Year 2009 winner for The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon Reed, she has earned many AudioFile Earphones Awards, including for Too Good to Be True by Erin Arvedlund and Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. Of Karen's narration of Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, Publishers Weekly says, "Karen White delivers a stunning reading, her character interpretations are confident and well-rounded, and she forges a strong bond with the audience."