Set in 1968 Mississippi, Little’s coming-of-age novel follows 17-year-old Shelby Montgomery as she returns to her family’s summer home in Tupelo and becomes entangled in a season of shifting loyalties, class tensions, and first love. Early scenes at Grover’s Pond introduce Shelby and her best friend, Liberty Chestnut, whose warm, bantering dynamic establishes the novel’s focus on heartening female friendship. Shelby’s chance encounters with River—a quiet, talented guitarist who plays at Maggie’s Grill with Liberty’s uncle, a blues musician known as the Boogie Man—set the stage for a summer marked by romantic curiosity and social conflict.

Little (author of My Little Green Umbrella and other children’s fiction) skillfully layers immersive descriptions throughout the novel: magnolia branches overhanging the pond; the heat rising from the packed dining room at Maggie’s Grill; the controlled formality of Shelby’s family estate. Moments such as Shelby, Liberty, and a friend watching the blues set through cracked floorboards in Liberty’s room provide memorable perspectives and emphasize the contrasts between Shelby’s privileged environment and the working-class world she’s drawn toward. The narrative also engages with family expectations and local politics, particularly as Shelby’s father celebrates his election as State Attorney General and her mother attempts to steer her toward an approved suitor. These pressures underscore broader themes about identity, autonomy, and the social divisions of the era.

Little’s depictions of blues culture, Southern domestic life, the looming war in Vietnam, and adolescent emotions contribute to a vivid sense of place, and readers drawn to atmospheric Southern historical fiction and stories centered on youthful longing, friendship, and community dynamics will be captivated. The story’s striking sensory detail, memorable interpersonal relationships, and riveting historical context shape a portrait of a transformative summer for a young woman navigating competing worlds, illuminating the alluring taste of freedom and first love amid childhood innocence and societal upheaval.

Takeaway:Immersive coming-of-age summer romance, set against 1960s upheaval.

Comparable Titles:Lynda Rutledge’s Mockingbird Summer, Sarvenaz Tash’s Three Day Summer.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A