Some of this country's strongest women emerged from the Great Depression and WWII. This book celebrates those women and their relationships. I felt like I was wrapped up in a warm blanket listening to stories about my grandmothers. Gibbons lends a wonderful voice to the young Southern girl and weaves relationships that aren't ashamed to show their flaws. I now remember why I enjoyed reading Ellen Foster many years ago.

This novel depicts three generations of Southern women living together during World War II. Unworthy men marry into this formidable tribe, but they cannot break the women's circle of strength and grace. Margaret, the narrator, gently and humorously regales readers with the adventures of her grandmother, Charlie Kate, as a respectable yet unlicensed physician; and her daughter, Sophia.

A very strange story set in the backwoods of North Carolina during the depression and WW2

A very moving book! another awesome Gibbons book:)

In the verdant backwoods of North Carolina, in a sad and singular era, the Birches are unique among women of their time-living gloriously rich it decidedly offbeat lives in a private world abandoned by men. And though misery often heats a path to their door, headstrong Sophia and her y, brilliant daughter Margaret possess charms to ward off loneliness and despair-thanks to the uncompromising strength, uncommon wisdom, and muscular love of a remarkable matriarch and self-taught healer who calls herself Charlie Kate.

In Charms for the Easy Life, Kaye Gibbons has created a luminous, truth telling novel that gives life to her most passionate and tough minded women yet.

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