We Are All Welcome Here

We Are All Welcome Here
By: Elizabeth Berg
Read by: Elizabeth Berg
5 discs (approx 6 hours of listening)

It is the summer of 1964.  In Tupelo, Mississippi, tensions are mounting over civil-rights demonstrations occurring ever more frequently.  But in Paige Dunn's small, ramshackle house, there are more immediate concerns.  Challenged by the effect of polio, Paige is nonetheless determined to live as normal a life as possible and to raise her daughter, Diana, in the way she sees fit-with the support of her tough-talking black caregiver, Peacie.

As a fourteen-year-old, Diana wants to make money for clothes and magazines, to slough of the authority of her mother and Peacie, to figure out the puzzle tha tis boys, and to escape the oppressiveness she sees everywhere in her small town.  What she can never escape, however, is the her life is markedly different from others.  Nor can she escape her ongoing responsibility to assist in caring for her mother.  Paige Dunn is attractive, charming, intelligent, and lively, but her needs are great-and relentless.

As the summer unfolds, hate and adversity will visit this modest home.  Each of the women will find her own path to independence, understanding, and peace. And Diana's mother, so mightily compromised, will end up giving her daughter an extraordinary gift few parents could match. 

Personal Notes:  I absolutely loved this book!!  This book was inspired by a fan letter to the author who wanted her story written althought this book has been fictionalized.  This book is an emotional rollercoaster that deals with the hardships of the racial issues that were going on during the 60's,  raising a teenage daughter, finding love, good friendships, poverty, and living with a huge handicap.  I couldnt put this book down...good short read.  Also love it when authors read their own books as is done with this book.