The disappearance of a black boy in a small Mississippi town plunges young Fannie, a girl who dreams of cooking her way to a better life, into her town's own heart of darkness. 20,000 first printing.

The Persia Cafe

Literature & Fiction

Neilson, Melany

United States

Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press

Growing up in a small Mississippi River town, Fannie Leary works at the local café, trying to hold her own in a world of slow expectations and hard boundaries. Dreaming that her cooking will be her ticket out of Persia, she cleaves to Mattie, the irrepressible black woman who runs the kitchen; to Will, the troubled, quiet boy she falls in love with; and eventually to Sheila Jones, a reclusive young girl who has returned with her mother from California to the town after her father's death. But when a young black boy suddenly disappears and the town erupts in violence, she is the only one who can piece their story together. What she uncovers is as unexpected as it is heartbreaking.

Literary

St. Martin's: Griffin

Growing up in a small Mississippi River town, Fannie Leary works at the local cafeacute;, trying to hold her own in a world of slow expectations and hard boundaries. Dreaming that her cooking will be her ticket out of Persia, she cleaves to Mattie, the irrepressible black woman who runs the kitchen; to Will, the troubled, quiet boy she falls in love with; and eventually to Sheila Jones, a reclusive young girl who has returned with her mother from California to the town after her father's death. But when a young black boy suddenly disappears and the town erupts in violence, she is the only one who can piece their story together. What she uncovers is as unexpected as it is heartbreaking.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Thorndike Pr

Recounts State Representative Robert Clark's two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. House of Representatives, and shares the author's account of how she became involved in his campaigns

Even Mississippi

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Univ of Alabama Pr

 Even Mississippi is a well-crafted and engaging account that is not only good reading but also a penetrating commentary on several social, political, and historical themes. This is the story of Robert Clark’s two unsuccessful campaigns for a Congressional seat, in 1982 and 1984, and is written by the young woman who served as the only white staff member during the first campaign and one of a few whites during the second. Using the campaign as a starting point, the author takes us on a journey into the Mississippi Delta, where the progress of the last two decades has eluded America’s truly forgotten poor, where blacks like Clark move from cotton rows to politics as they work toward a new way of life.            Describing the isolation of a small town, Neilson recounts how the acculturation process worked in Mississippi and how it effectively molded blacks and whites. Even Mississippi is the story of a girl, a family, struggling with two powerful worlds, one dying and the other in the process of birth. Ole Miss, manners, and morals aside, there is something here that measure the heartbeat of what we once called “the South.” There are the genteel people and the plain folk, juke joints and Garden clubs, continuity and change, love and hate the good times and the bad. But it is Ed Tye, the author’s father, who is the personification of the struggle with the past that eventually loses out to the forces of change. Both black and white readers will appreciate his dilemma, his sense of loyalty, and his attachment to his family. 

University Alabama Press

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Books by Neilson, Melany

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Neilson, Melany. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Persia Cafe

The Persia Cafe

The Persia Cafe

Even Mississippi

Even Mississippi