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We Are All Welcome Here: A Novel Hardcover – April 4, 2006

by Elizabeth Berg (Author)

139 customer reviews

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Elizabeth Berg, bestselling author of The Art of Mending and The Year of Pleasures, has a rare talent for revealing her characters’ hearts and minds in a manner that makes us empathize completely. Her new novel, We Are All Welcome Here, features three women, each struggling against overwhelming odds for her own kind of freedom.
It is the summer of 1964. In Tupelo, Mississippi, the town of Elvis’s birth, tensions are mounting over civil-rights demonstrations occurring ever more frequently–and violently–across the state. But in Paige Dunn’s small, ramshackle house, there are more immediate concerns. Challenged by the effects of the polio she contracted during her last month of pregnancy, 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.
Diana is trying in her own fashion to live a normal life. As a fourteen-year-old, she wants to make money for clothes and magazines, to slough off the authority of her mother and Peacie, to figure out the puzzle that is boys, and to escape the oppressiveness she sees everywhere in her small town. What she can never escape, however, is the way 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. Despite the difficulties thrust upon them, 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.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A polio victim and her 13-year-old daughter work miracles from their Tupelo, Miss., home during the summer of 1964 in Berg's latest carefully calibrated domestic drama (after The Year of Pleasures). Having contracted polio at 22 while pregnant, Paige Dunn delivers her baby from an iron lung, and ends up raising her daughter, Diana, alone after her husband divorces her. Able to move only her head, Paige requires round-the-clock nursing care that social services barely cover. Now 13, Diana has taken over the night shift to save them money, sharing her mother's care with no-nonsense African-American day worker Peacie, who is protective of Paige and unforgiving of Diana's adolescent yearning for freedom. Paige is a paragon of kindness and wisdom, even in the face of less-than-charitable charity by petty small-town residents, while Diana and Peacie consistently lock horns. But when Peacie's boyfriend, LaRue, ventures down the perilous path of helping register black voters during this Freedom Summer and trouble follows him, Diana will gain compassion thanks to her mother's selfless aid to LaRue and Peacie. As the novel (based on a true story) is set in Tupelo, the specter of Elvis Presley naturally intrudes, for an over-the-top, heartrending finale.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–As a student nurse, Paige Dunn once took care of Elvis Presley's mother in Tupelo, MS. She contracted polio while pregnant with her daughter and is paralyzed from the neck down. Deserted by her husband and on welfare, Paige relies on Peacie, her black daytime caregiver, and on her daughter, Diana, now 13, for help at night. The teen is devoted to her beautiful, talented mother, yet at times is resentful that her mother's needs must come before her own. When the girl wins $2500 in a contest, Paige gives most of the money to Peacie for medical care for her boyfriend, who was badly beaten for participating in a civil rights demonstration. When their social worker learns that the money that would have provided for a nighttime caregiver has been used for other expenses, she demands that the situation be remedied. Diana writes to Elvis, enclosing a song her mother had written long ago, he responds with a visit to Paige, and suddenly their life is made infinitely easier. Full of humor, devoid of self-pity, with lively characters that rise above their circumstances, this is the story of an adolescent accepting adult responsibilities, encountering the temptations of boys and booze, and experiencing the tensions between race and class in the 1960s. –Molly Connally, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product details

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Random House (April 4, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140006161X
ISBN-13: 978-1400061617
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 139 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,284,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66920 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

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Book Lover

Dreams Really Do Come True

January 3, 2016

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When I finished this quick read (quick because it flowed through my brain effortlessly) the term "magical realism" came to mind. This book doesn't fit the academic definition of that term but the story, based on life in the Deep South in 1964, combined the harsh reality of segregation and the hopes and dreams of a 13 year old girl. Happily, all elements came together with a miraculous, stand-up-and-cheer ending. Now there are some curmudgeons who might feel cheated by the resolution, but I for one was content with an ending that betrayed no one and arose organically from the clues scattered throughout the story. Have I piqued your interest? I hope so. 13 year old Diane is a worthy member of the sorority of strong Southern girls like Scout and Frankie from Member of the Wedding. A story to be savored.

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This Woman Has Polio

January 9, 2014

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Never having read anything by Elizabeth Berg, I was happy when my book club chose We Are All Welcome Here for our December selection. Though fiction, the book is based on the life events of one of Ms. Berg’s readers, Marianne Raming Burke, and her mother Pat Raming.

In the novel, a young pregnant woman contracts polio in the final days of her pregnancy and actually gives birth to her daughter in an iron lung. Her husband soon divorces her and suggests giving their baby up for adoption. Instead, Paige opts to raise daughter Diana with the help of caretakers, and throughout most of the book, Peacie is the major one. Their poverty prohibits hiring night caregivers, and Diana must assume those duties of changing her mother's position or providing a drink of water or a bedpan.

It was a hard life for the courageous young Paige, Diana, Peacie, and LaRue, Peacie’s boyfriend. Because of various reasons related to the Civil Rights Movement, Peacie and LaRue must leave, and just when it looks like Diana might have to go into foster care, they have a surprise visitor who changes their lives in a positive way. While some reviewers find it a bit hokey that Elvis entered the scene and saved the day, I thought his entrance added a certain comic relief.

Despite the many challenges, the reader knows that Paige never regrets her initial decision to raise her daughter. In her words, “I could still taste and smell and hear and see. I could still learn and I could still teach. I could still love and be loved. I had my mind and my spirit. And I had you.”

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Aninal lover and Reader

Almost read in one sitting

September 25, 2016

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I started reading early on a day trip and had eighty percent finished by the end. The story was compelling, the characters interesting. I thought of one story it reminded me of also set in the sixties, "The world of Henry Orient," because of the celebrity connection and the relationship between the two teenage girls with single mothers. But Paige's story was interesting in itself, even if it had a "What's eating Gilbert Grape," quality to it.

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JeannieD

Read this book!

June 20, 2016

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This was an unusual departure for Elizabeth Berg, one of my favorite writers. As she explains in the beginning of the book, this was a story line proposed to her by a fan. It was such a compelling story that she agreed to write this novel based on the true story of this fan's mother and their relationship. I am so glad she did! Everything is there that you have come to expect from this writer; great character development, joy, sorrow, humor and love...lots of love! My takeaway phrase from this book is "redemptive beauty"...pretty much sums it up. Read this book!

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Karen A. Wyle

Beautifully written story inspired by a remarkable life

December 26, 2015

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I'm rounding up a bit, but I liked this book quite a lot. Its origin intrigued me: a reader asked Berg to write a story about her remarkable mother, and Berg found the woman inspiring enough to use her as the jumping-off point for a fictional character. Both that character and her daughter are beautifully rendered, and their story is a great example of an engrossing and suspenseful yet fully realistic plot. (Some might quibble with that adjective for an event near the end, but I stand by it.)

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Connecticut Bookie

Good story; Characters with depth.

April 25, 2016

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Captivating story with solid characters. I was the same age in 1964 as Diana - and Ms. Berg really gets the period and the teenagers just right. I wanted to call my childhood friend several times in the course of reading this book, to say, "Remember?" - even though I am from the Northeast, not the deep South. Only negative for me was the ending - I would have preferred something more realistic.

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NightReader

A sad story of their struggles

February 16, 2016

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A very moving story about a young pregnant woman who is diagnosed with polio.
She carries her baby to term and delivers a girl who she is determined to raise, despite
being in an iron lung and being a single parent. It is a very difficult life for both the mother
and her child. They have limited income and only intermittent help from care-givers once
their long term helper leaves them. A sad story of their struggles. It was well written and
interesting.

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Kindle Customer

Five stars

November 2, 2016

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This book is about a young girl coming of age in 1960s south. Her mother is paralysed from the neck down and is determined to raise her daughter with the help of her caregiver Peace. Many things happen both good and bad as Diana grows and learns about life.

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