Mary Jane Hatcher– everyone calls her Mojo– is beat up bad. She’s in the ICU of Phoebe Putney, the largest hospital in South Georgia, barely able to talk. How Mojo goes from being that skinny little girl in Nolan, a small forgotten town along the Flint River, to the young woman now fighting for her life, is where this story begins and ends.
Mojo, her mama Delores and her Uncle Calvin Mullinax, like most folks in Nolan, have just tried to make the best of it. Of course, people aren’t always what they seem, and Phil Foster–the handsome, spoiled son of the richest man in the county–is no exception.
As the story of the Mullinax family unfolds, Mojo discovers a family’s legacy can be many things—a piece of earth, a familiar dwelling, a shared bond. And although she doesn’t know why she feels such a bond with Phil Foster, it is there all the same, family or not. And she likes to think we all have us a fresh start. Like her mama always said, the past is all just water under the bridge. Mojo, after going to hell and back, finally comes to understand what that means.
"A fascinating, engaging cross-section of Southern characters." --Haywood Smith, New York Times best-selling author
“In the great tradition of Southern storytellers, Little spins a tale specific and universal, one that speaks authentically to both the tragedies of the past and the triumphs of the future.” --Rachel Harper, author, Brass Ankle Blues
"A realistic Southern tale, like a Hank Williams song." --Paul Yarbrough, author, Mississippi Cotton
"In a house on stilts in a hamlet in Dumas ("doom us") County Georgia, a world unfolds of love, loss, falling apart and coming together, in Elaine Little's captivating debut novel." --Roy Hoffman, author, Almost Family and Chicken Dreaming Corn
"...a stunning debut novel that captures the essence of the working poor in the Deep South." --Memoir Writer's Journey
"I was surprised to learn this is the author's debut novel, as it is written beautifully and will keep you captivated throughout its entirety." --Books I Think You Should Read
