Review of "Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen: A Novel" by Susan Gregg Gilmore

The story is narrated by Catherine Grace Cline, who's looking back at her formative years in Georgia, starting with her childhood.

*****

Young Catherine Grace Cline lives in Ringgold, Georgia, a small town where everyone knows your business "down to the color of underwear your mama bought you at the Dollar General Store."



It's the early 1970s and Catherine Grace is still in grade school, but she has big plans. Unlike some of her friends, Catherine Grace doesn't aspire to marry a local boy and nurture a tomato patch. She plans to have an exciting career among the bright lights of Atlanta.



Catherine Grace lost her mama when she was six, and she and her younger sister Martha Ann live with their daddy - the local Baptist Preacher.



The closest thing Catherine Grace has to a mother is the next door neighbor Gloria Jean Graves, who nurtures the Cline girls like they were her own.



Gloria Jean is an anomaly in conservative Ringgold since she's a colorful fashionista - literally.....she has auburn hair, wears eye shadow, and polishes her nails. Moreover, Gloria Jean has been married and divorced five times.



Catherine Grace and Martha Ann LOVE to hear Gloria Jean talk about her husbands and her weddings, but other Ringgold citizens are scandalized by the woman's past.



Nevertheless, Gloria Jean is worldly wise, and helps young Catherine Grace become a strawberry jam entrepreneur.....so the girl can save money to fulfill her dreams.



Other significant adults in Catherine Grace's life are: Mrs. Gulbenk - the 80-year-old home economics teacher who's passionate about tomatoes and proper etiquette;



Miss Raines - the Sunday school teacher who has a crush on the widowed Preacher;



Mrs. Huckstep - who manipulates every situation to favor her privileged granddaughter Emma Sue;



Mr. Tucker - the manager of the Dollar General Store;



And Eddie Franklin - who runs the Dairy Queen.



For good or bad, all these people affect Catherine Grace's life.

Every Saturday afternoon, Catherine Grace and Martha Ann go to the Dairy Queen, where they buy Dilly Bars, sit on a bench, and talk about their future.



Catherine Grace hopes to work for a department store in Atlanta, and plans for Martha Ann to join her there eventually.

Catherine Grace's best friend is Lolly Dempsey - a girl whose neglectful, dismissive mother never wanted her. Other classmates include prissy Ruthie Morgan - whose mama is an attractive, accomplished homemaker and whose father is a World War II hero; and the aforementioned Emma Sue - who's spoiled rotten by her grandma.



Catherine Grace goes to church every Sunday, and often prays to Jesus for help. But the girl's pleas to bring her mama back fall on deaf ears - as do her repeated requests to find the golden egg at the Easter egg hunt and win the Sword Drill Medal at the Bible competition. Catherine Grace is dismayed at the lack of assistance, but never loses her faith.

As the years pass, Catherine Grace acquires a handsome boyfriend named Hank Blankenship, but nothing will deflect the girl from her goal. Thus, on her 18th birthday Catherine Grace moves to Atlanta, where she gets a job in a department store, and rents a room in Mrs. Mabie's home.



Mrs Mabie and her maid Flora are wonderful to Catherine Grace, and it almost seems like heaven is smiling down on her after all.

Then circumstances require Catherine Grace to return to Ringgold, and her life takes a dramatic and unexpected turn.

I enjoyed the novel, which is earnest, funny, and heartrending.....filled with memorable characters.....and has the feel of a Southern classic. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars