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Change Baby: A Novel [Hardcover]

June Spence (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


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Book Description

September 9, 2004
An award-winning writer's debut novel about a young woman's return to her Southern roots and to the secrets of who she is.

Avie Goss is a change baby-a baby born late in her mother's life, almost a generation after the births of her two siblings. When her mother nearly dies in a house fire, Avie returns home to the South she abandoned after college. There, she tends to her ailing mother and begins to unravel the story of who she is-and to uncover a different picture of a way of life that has all but vanished. Slowly, as she makes sense of her family's legacy, she begins to build a new life for herself in a landscape with which she must come to terms.

June Spence's astonishing talents as a literary stylist, which were so highly praised on the publication of her story collection, Missing Women and Others, are stunningly exhibited in this impressive debut novel. As Larry Brown wrote about her stories, "In her beautiful sentences June Spence writes with knowledge and intelligence, with wit and insight, and a generous helping of compassion."

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this impressive first novel, a young woman discovers skeletons long hidden in the family closet. Avie Goss was born 24 years ago, just before her mother's menopause and long after her two "more suitably timed siblings." She trusted that once she left her hometown of Regina, N.C., "the future would cough up its gems," but she's now a recovering alcoholic in a dysfunctional relationship with a married man. When her 73-year-old mother, Mabry, is injured in a house fire, Avie returns home to care for her. She seeks out Mabry's cousin and oldest friend, Zephra, curious about the rift between them, and is told that the two women aren't really kin. From this first revelation, more secrets unfold, including the true nature of the bonds between Zephra, Mabry and her dead husband, and even between Avie and her siblings. Spence's prose is deft, forceful and quirky ("my thoughts darted in every direction, small, excitable fishes"), but never overbearing, and her alternating narrators (Avie, Zephra and Mabry) have delightful voices. And when sparks fly between the agnostic Avie and a young pastor, Spence handily provides comic relief and the pleasures of young love. Despite an ending in which loose ends are tied up a little too tidily, Spence, who garnered much praise for her 1999 collection, MissingWomen and Others, delivers a true winner.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Recently widowed and now in frail health herself, Mabry Goss summons her youngest daughter back home. Avie's reentry into the two-bit town of Regina confirms what fellow North Carolinian Thomas Wolfe once wrote: you can't go home again. By moving to Ohio, Avie thought she had escaped the stifling religious traditions and moral expectations of small-town southern life. As she cares for her ailing mother, Avie discovers some disturbing truths about her parents, their marriage, her elder siblings, and even her own identity; but the truth, as they say, can set you free, and Avie has been shackled by her family's dysfunction long enough. Like many southern writers, Spence is inspired by two prevailing images of the region's culture. One extols the virtues of simple living and homespun wisdom; the other exposes a devious hypocrisy hiding behind a zealous piety. In her flawlessly executed debut novel, Spence avoids being trapped by these stereotypes, combining a compelling family dynamic with just a hint of mystery. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 230 pages
  • Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (September 9, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0641684355
  • ISBN-13: 978-0641684357
  • ASIN: 1573222860
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,870,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Going/Finding Home, March 1, 2005
This review is from: Change Baby: A Novel (Hardcover)
Change Baby is alot about finding yourself and where you fit in your family, especially when the family leads you to believe one thing about yourself and you find that life isn't really all that you thought it was. Avie Goss returns to home to take care of mother, mostly because her older sister says it is her responsibility because she just can't do it. No matter, Avie is just looking for a reason to get away from her current situation and taking care of mother seems as good of reason as any to return home. Avie immerses herself in the care of her mother and in the process finds that her family is not all that she was lead to believe and as the mysteries of her family unfolds so does Avie as she finally finds her place.

It has been a while since I have read a book that I was so engrossed in from cover to cover that I actually resented having to put it down for real life stuff.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and moving, June 10, 2006
This review is from: Change Baby (Paperback)
A wonderful book. Beautifully written, moving and emotionally rewarding, Change Baby follows the lives of a southern family from generation to generation. Stunning for a first novel and a great one for a book club - but perhaps even more enjoyable when savoured alone. If you want rich characters, great prose and emotional depth, this is the book for you.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
My mother, Mabry Goss, had been ill for some time, but she kept it to herself. Read the first page
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Ida Snow, Pastor Joe, Chamber of Commerce
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