Miss McGhee: Young Love

by Bett Norris

When Mary McGhee moved to a small Alabama town shortly after the Second World War, she was sure she could change her life for good: a new job, a new place, and a chance for a new life. But then she met Lila Dubose, the wife of her new employer. Set in the shadow of the civil rights movement, Miss McGhee is a sweeping tale of forbidden love in a turbulent time. Miss McGhee is a runner-up for the first annual Bywater Prize for Fiction.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932859330
• ISBN13: 9781932859331
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Bywater Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Midwest Book Review, September 2007 Issue

What if you're a girl, at age 16, who falls in love with another girl - but it's the 1940s? And then you moved on, only to get in trouble again? What if you had no reasonable expectation of finding love and living happily ever after? This is Mary McGhee's life. She's been in that situation one too many times. Now in her late 20s, once again she's starting over, in a new town called Myrtlewood, Alabama. This time she's taken a position as a secretary at the town lumber mill, owned by the rich and prestigious Dubose family. Little does she know she's walking into a town full of busybodies and vipers, and the job she's taken is no simple matter. The head of the family has died, leaving his wealth and the mill to his incompetent son, Tommie Dubose, and Mary must come on the scene and somehow turn the business around while not angering the men in town, many of whom work at the mill. But Lila Dubose, Tommie's wife, is a port in the storm, and as Lila and Mary get to know each other sparks begin to fly. Will Miss McGhee once again find herself exiled - or worse? Bett Norris has crafted an impressive story that takes place after World War II and at the brink of the civil rights movement. Her prose is clean and clear with moments of great beauty and lush description. Readers definitely feel as though we are THERE - living in this small town, at a time when white men seemed to rule all, and opportunities for women, minorities, and gay people were all but impossible to find. This is no typical romance, and the various characters in the story face mounting obstacles. Anyone stepping outside society's rules for women and blacks was bound to suffer, and there is great tension and drama in the way Norris rolls out this tale. But the love that grows between various people, in particular, Miss McGhee and Lila Dubose, is a joy to watch. The alliances Mary and Lila make and the stands they take kept me poring over this novel until late into the night. MISS MCGHEE is an excellent novel, filled with drama, excitement, and passion. The tone is pitch perfect, and the author has created a terrific cast of characters you'll remember long after finishing the book. I give this one my highest recommendation. ~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

Miss McGhee--a woman for all seasons!

The last book report I wrote as a school girl was over forty years ago. Do I know the difference betweeen a review and a report? Probably not! However, I do have something to say about Bett Norris' first novel, MISS MCGHEE. I am "straight" (in my mind, most of the time). I love people who live positively and I search out people who are sensitive and intelligent. This is what I must say about Bett Norris and her MISS MCGHEE: The skill Bett Norris displays in her writing is encouraging: grammatically correct and classically literary. In a setting of the tremendous cultural changes of the mid-twentieth century, Bett has developed believable people wih deep characterizations enmeshed in circumstances beyond their own control. Docile ignorance, bitter hatred, and loving committment meet head-on. Bett's development of human concern and love for one another is awe-inspiring. Race, age differences, sexual preferences, and disabilities delicately denied are revealed humanely, regardless of man's frequent inhumanity to each other. Mary and Lila become the epitome of committment to one another and their own beliefs. Their physical love in a time of close-mindedness is discreetly revealed as a sensitive and lanquid relationship. May this story of living know no bounds.

You don't want to miss this book

Mary McGhee made a mistake and part of her penance is being exiled to a small Alabama town in 1948 to help run the lumber mill that the town depends on for survival. The mill has been left to a man with the mental development of a twelve year old and Mary turns to his wife, Lila Dubose, as a natural ally to combat the forces in the town who view her as an outsider and unqualified to run the business. In her own way, Lila is also an outsider because she was brought from a poor family to be the wife of the town prince, so many people resent her new wealth and prestige. As the women work together to strengthen the mill and the town, they are drawn into a relationship that, at that time, would not only earn them the condemnation of the town's people, but could earn them each a prison sentence. Eventually, everyone has something more to talk about than the women's relationship. The book progresses through the 1950s and into the 1960s which sees the town trying to cope with the growing civil rights movement. Mary and Lila, who were already taxing the town's patience by helping the local Negroes, find themselves becoming more immersed in the movement. They have come to realize that, while they may not be able to alleviate the discrimination against them, they may be able to help someone else. There is an inevitable confrontation that demonstrates the level of homophobia and racism of the period, but also teaches other lessons. Miss McGhee strikes so many chords beautifully that starting with one unfairly infers that it was better done than the others. Hopefully, it won't only be Southerners of a certain age who can grasp how well Bett Norris has captured the tone of the period just preceding and during the early years of the civil rights movement. The historical accuracy of this book creates a tone that will have the reader believing that these characters actually lived. The mood is reminiscent of Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" or Carson McCullers' "The Member of the Wedding" and just as compelling as either of them. This one of those rare books that screams for a follow up.

Page Turner

I was privileged to get an early copy of this book. I loved how Bett set the stage for a wonderfully written journey through the lives of two women living and loving in a time of forbidden lesbian love. I highly recommend this book. It's obvious Bett has great writing talent and has great stories to tell. Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down. Read the first page, you, too, will be captured.

Wow! Couldn't put it down

There's alot going on in this novel. Two women with almost nothing in common find that they share more than they thought possible. Both are moved and affected by the civil rights movement which sometimes hits uncomfortably close to home. Their sometimes reluctant involvement creates tension between them, and between them and the town. Their relationship is strained and threatened, their livelihood, even their lives. On one level, this is a romance, a love story. On another, it is about the fear and the strength that comes from being outside the norms. This book is about outsiders versus insiders. If you've ever wondered what happened to Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird when she grew up, ever wondered about those single ladies who never married, ever thought about what it must have been like to live in the south during that time, this novel answers some of those questions in surprising ways. Bett Norris shows skill and depth in her first novel, much more sensitivity and insight than one would expect in a first time