That all changes when Miss Julia's husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her a large estate. She knows that Wesley Lloyd (her not so dearly departed) never would have *intended* to leave everything to her--but he never got around to putting his intentions in writing. In fact, she believes he wanted to leave much of the estate to the church. The church believes so, too.
At last though, it seems that Miss Julia can kick off her shoes and figure out who she is--and live comfortably while doing it! But shortly after Wesley Lloyd's death, there's a knock on the door. Miss Julia opens it to find a woman named Hazel Marie Puckett with a 9-year old boy who, she announces, is Wesley Lloyd's son. Before the shock has worn off, Hazel Marie turns and leaves to go and get some training so that she can support her son. In the meantime, she is leaving him with Miss Julia.
The book deals with the aftermath of this pronouncement. There are numerous twists and turns involving the boy, such as when Little Lloyd's "uncle" arrives to take him back to his mom (read: kidnap him into this cult like religious organization), and when Hazel Marie turns back up at Miss Julia's badly beaten. Miss Julia reluctantly teams up with Hazel to find Little Lloyd. I found it very enjoyable to read about Miss Julia, her maid Lillian and Hazel stage a rescue of Little Lloyd from Hazel's walking, talking stereotype redneck relatives. The entire kidnapping was one of the most compelling stories in the book--capturing Miss Julia's feelings that run the gamut of anger at her deceased husband, shame at being mislead all those years, disapproval of Hazel and Little Lloyd, and eventual acceptance of and concern for both. During the course of this storyline, Hazel is fleshed out and readers see her as more than just the "harpy" (Miss Julia's word) who was in a romance with a married man (some books may have been tempted to leave her as just a "harpy".) Further, the "first person" storytelling style kept this part, and the rest of the book, compelling and interesting, as the reader only learned things as Miss Julia did.
A side story deals with another caricature--Pastor Ledbetter, the pastor of the church that believes it is entitled to Wesley Lloyd's estate. Think of every smooth talking, oily, greedy, misogynist, prejudiced character every portrayed--and you're not even close to Pastor Ledbetter. His blatant sexism and inane comments, I felt, were included only to make the reader hate him. It certainly worked, but after awhile I felt like screaming, "Alright already! I don't like this guy!" His main function, other than to spout lines like the ones where he intimates that adultery is okay if the man has "more to offer" than regular men, is to make everyone think that Miss Julia has gone insane and needs a guardian (read: him) to control her estate (i.e. control it right into the church's coffers). His attempts are fairly transparent, to say the least. And the scene where Miss Julia "throws" herself at the preacher's male guest is utterly out of character and almost embarrassing. However, she redeems herself when she tells her male friend that she doesn't need him, or any other man to care for her again. She further redeems all when she realizes that she is "neither a child nor a half-wit", but a grown woman.
By the end, through her words and actions, Miss Julia proves herself to be a "Steel Magnolia", worthy of a job at the diner in Fried Green Tomatoes and membership in the Ya Ya Sisterhood. The book is the first in a series, and is a fast read that would make a cute movie. Overall, we would recommend it as we would like to learn more about this character who is just beginning to learn about herself.