The Queen of Sleepy Eye

by Patti Hill

Book Overview

En route to college in the summer of 1975, sensible seventeen-year-old Amy gets stuck in smalltown Colorado when the 1958 Pontiac Bonneville Sports Coupe driven by her insufferable tiara-toting mom, Francie--former Queen of the Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Corn Festival--surrenders to a mortally wounded transmission. It doesn't take long to realize that thirty-three-year-old Francie is out of money and in no hurry to let go of her daughter, so the two unpack...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805447504
• ISBN13: 9780805447507
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly inspiring

I really didn't have any expectations going into reading this book, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I found myself able to relate to Amy many times through out the story, even though I am twice her age. I loved the characters and the realistic dynamic between mother and daughter. I really enjoyed and savored this story and it will stay with me for a long time.

Authenticity and Wonderful Writing

When I read The Queen of Sleepy Eye, I enjoyed the narration of the 17-year-old Amy and its authenticity. She remarks, "Enjoying God's grace is sloppy business" when she realizes with tears that the light from a church window didn't reveal, but rather overcame, her sins. And of course I loved Amy's wacky but endearing mother. Another comment made by a minor character, an elderly priest, who asks when looking in a mirror, "Who is that old guy wearing my whippersnapper soul?" was equally perceptive and terrific. All that is to say that Patti has a unique type of talent that can be compared with creating cliffhangers or unanswered (but leading) questions. She has the ability to create characters who are so real, they themselves leave the reader yearning for more --as if they were friends to whom we are bidding farewell. There's the bittersweet hope that even though they are going somewhere we cannot go, we want them to come back again. Latayne C Scott www.novelmatters.blogspot.com www.latayne.com

Another great novel!!!

I couldn't wait to get my copy of Patti Hill's latest novel. Days later, I left on a trip and was glued to the pages during the entire flight and airport layovers. What a wonderful story! Both mother and daughter learn and grow from their summer stuck in Cordial. I loved the characters. Amy, left to be more of the grown up, struggles to find her own way and takes a few turns she didn't expect. I've had a few "Francie's" enter my life and found her character and the other characters very true to life. The story was refreshing as life doesn't typically go the way we plan, yet such unexpected turns provide opportunities to learn and grow. The end result is not life as we planned, but a life lived out with a beauty that comes only from a restoration of the past. This is a must read!

Another winner from Patti Hill

Once again, author Patti Hill has written an excellent novel! In 1975, Amy is 17 and on her way to college in California in the company of her mom. Somehow, while she is asleep, her mom Francie ends up way off the road to California in a small Colorado town. Her beloved 1958 Pontiac Bonneville sports coupe needs major repairs. They end up living in and working at a funeral home (of all places)waiting for the repairs to be done while earning money to pay for them. During that summer, Amy learns much about herself, her mother, love and friendship, people in general and the struggles we all face on our journey through life on this earth.

Faith filled chick lit with depth and heart

The Queen of Sleepy Eye by Patti Hill is a stand out book about the relationship between mother and daughter as well as faith of the heart instead of faith of the head. It's 1975, and Amy Montiero is finally breaking free from her mother Francie by going to college in California. But on the drive out there from Illinois, Francie gets sidetracked in the little town of Cordial, Colorado, and before Amy can say "Help!", she's working for the summer at a funeral home and trying to come up with another escape plan while Francie flirts her way through town. Amy is a fantastically three dimensional character. She's firm in her faith, until she starts visiting a hippie community where a handsome man named Falcon plies his trade making stained glass windows. He challenges her notions of what Christianity means and awakens feelings Amy was certain she knew how to control. Amy lives her life believing that her faith puts her above everyone else. She tolerates her mother's frequent failings, she shakes her head in disgust at the rigidity at the old ladies in the local church, and takes on a hippie family and an elderly widow as charity projects. Cracks start to show in her facade when first her best friend from home commits a sin Amy can't forgive, then a good friend is killed, bringing Amy to discover sin in her own heart. Hill writes Amy with compassion and humor. You can't help but love both her and Francie. The story is bookended with chapters about Amy and Francie 30 years later returning a stolen car. The two stories seem disconnected until Amy reaches out her hand in forgiveness and love to someone who least deserves it, offering up the grace she had learned so many years ago. Put this book on your must read list; it's a real winner!