Charms for the Easy Life
   Kaye Gibbons
  1999 Econo-Clad Books USA
   ISBN: 0785727442


Humor, grace & gumption attend this timeless story of three generations of fiery, if stubborn, women as they marry, tend the ills of their neighbors, see to the dead & raise their daughters.

Kaye Gibbons has such a gift that you read her work feeling, all the time, as if you have simply sat down to a pot of tea with a newcomer on a rainy afternoon & she's telling you the story of her grandmother, her mother & herself.

Sometimes, when I read a Kaye Gibbons, I think back on my orphan-blood heritage & wonder what it must be like to know your blood-mother & her mother. To have their stories fill your life, to work with their dishes, genes, linens, mysteries & medicines.

Charms for the Easy Life begins around the turn of this century, when the narrator's grandmother & grandfather meet as she takes his ferry across the Pasquotank River. It is a book about a granddaughter's love, respect & trust of her grandmother.

We are gifted a glimpse of a time & place far back in a quieter, steadier-paced time. Fascinating to see the mother & then her daughter, following in their Charlie Kate's footsteps, choosing purely handsome men & making purely girl children.

As her grandmother said: “I have picked up a habit or two along the way. If I hadn't, I'd bore myself into the grave in about two days.” Charms for the Easy Life is charming!
(05/09/00)

Rebecca