Kibbee crafts a delightfully witty coming of age story steeped in
southern charm that will leave the reader wanting more! I could not put
this book down! Vikki J. Carter: Author, Host & Producer of Authors of
the Pacific Northwest Podcast
In the summer of '79, hell bubbled right up through the loamy Louisiana
bayou just outside of Lafayette Parish and set Olive Abernathy's world
on fire. Maybe it was the little devil sittin' side-saddle on her
shoulder that turned Olive into a murderin', hitchhikin', train-hoppin'
vagabond at the tender age of thirteen. Or maybe...just maybe...there
were a few secrets itchin' to claw their way out of that bayou along
with her.
Olive Abernathy is a silver-tongued tomboy with a mean right hook, a
fierce little spirit, and an inability to fit in. Her uncle mistook the
Mayor's toupee for a bigfoot pelt. Her Aunt found the baby Jesus in a
bowl of cornflakes. Her Mama's holding a paddle in one hand and the
world's biggest secret in the other. Olive feels her little Louisiana
town closing up around her like a pill bug and she yearns for freedom;
she yearns for adventure . . . she yearns to shed the Abernathy surname
that everyone in town inexplicably detests and to strike out on her own.
But when Olive convinces her besotted best friend Henry, the world's
oldest living 12-year-old to strike out and ride the rails like a
starry-eyed hobo, the big city proves to her that while the grass over
there might be greener, the dog in the yard's also meaner. Olive's
forced to grow up hard and fast. Olive's forced to feel the same hard
touch that her Mama felt. And Olive's forced to realize that great
cruelty exists in this world.
