SURVIVING PAIN & LOSS -- A REVIEW

What a sad childhood CeeCee Honeycutt is having in Willoughy, Ohio, with her mother unraveling a little bit at a time, and her father off traveling on business.

Camille Honeycutt was a beauty queen in Georgia, and her life as a transplant to the North has seemingly clipped her wings and shredded her soul. And CeeCee is too young to really understand what is happening to her mother. But she knows all too well the taunts, the jeers, and the horror of living without friends, since everyone has labeled her the child of that "weird woman."

Then CeeCee's mother dies in a tragic accident, and her father decides to send her to Savannah to live with her Great Aunt Tallulah (Tootie). But what CeeCee sees as abandonment by her father turns out to be the best thing that's ever happened to her.

From the moment that CeeCee steps into the beautiful old home in Savannah, her life gradually takes on a new shape, with loving people around her and the colorful world encircling her more every day.

The characters in Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel are reminiscent of all those old Southern tales I've enjoyed, with the dialogue and activities that make me think of the charm I've come to admire in every Southern book I have ever read. I loved Oletta, who reminded me of characters I enjoyed in The Help...and the quirky neighbors made me think of others I had come to adore with their "steel magnolias" kind of strength; the women in Aunt Tootie's world seemingly join together to create a new place for CeeCee until, finally, she feels as though she really belongs—at long last.

Five stars.