Windows To The World

            THE SUGAR QUEEN

SARAH ADDISON ALLEN

When Josie Cirrini was a young girl she was a terror, she made scenes wherever she went and though she is now grown, she is still remembered for her past. Now Josie has remade herself into the quiet mouse of a woman, old before her years, a virtual slave to her mother on an effort to atone for the misery Josie put her through all those years ago.

She has a secret little world that she has created in the back of a closet in her bedroom. Here she keeps romance novels and lovely stashes of junk food to give her the nice feelings that take the place of the affection she will never get from her mother.

One day she opens her closet door to find a local girl Della Lee, several years older than Josie herself. She is ensconced in the midst of the books and food and seems to be settling in for a while. She says that she has left her abusive boyfriend and is on her way north, but before she goes she wants to help Josie with the problems of her life.

One of the things that Della Lee is going to work on is to get Josie more independent of her mother and another is to help her with her love life. Josie has been in love with Adam the mail carrier for three years now, but has kept this secret well. But first Della Lee asks Josie to go to the courthouse where there is a small grill run by Chloe Finley, and to bring her a grilled tomatoes and three cheese sandwich.

So it begins, Josie is forced out of her comfort zone and begins to flap her wings just a little. It is hard to evaluate just how much control Josie’s mother has on her and what her mother’s real motivations are. This story is just that, a story about a bird who gets nudged out of her nest and had to interact and survive in a new and dangerous place. This new place though has so many things to offer like friendship and love.

This is the second Allen novel I have read. The first, GARDEN SPELLS was just as magical. This author is a real treat. I want to take her books and go hide out in a quiet place with my stash of good things to eat and read more of her stories..