Calling Me Home

A Novel

By: Julie Kibler

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Lorna Raver

Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a big favor to ask her hairdresser, Dorrie. She wants the black single mother to drop everything and drive her from Texas to a funeral in Ohio - tomorrow. Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious about Isabelle’s past, agrees, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.

Isabelle confesses that, as a teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family’s housekeeper - in a town where blacks weren’t allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences just might help Dorrie find her own way.

©2013 Julie Kibler (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Go in blind!!!!

So. I started this book with no knowledge what so ever of its contents besides the fist few pages that I listened to. I decided the narrator sounded good and a hairdresser was one of the characters Ok I'm in. Sooo so glad that is all I had. I would so not have gave it a chance if I knew the summary let me tell you that. This book was so good I can not recommend it enough. Blind is the best way though for sure!!!!

Heartbreakingly Amazing

What did you love best about Calling Me Home?

This is the best book I've listened to in a LONG time. I bawled my eyes out, the sign of a good book to me! I enjoyed the readers, and absolutely LOVED the story. Amazing.

quality historical fiction

Calling me Home is the touching story of an elderly white woman as she journeys into her past, growing up in 1930s Kentucky and falling in love with a young black man. As she recalls these memories some 70 years later, the reader is reminded of the continuing struggles for civil rights, not only in the early 20th century, but today as well.

The story is told through the perspectives of two women--Miss Isabelle, the aging white woman, and Dorrie, the middle-aged black woman who aids Miss Isabelle on her journey. In the audio version two different narrators are used to voice these women.

ENJOYED THE PACE

Would you consider the audio edition of Calling Me Home to be better than the print version?

Did not read the print version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think they were all good, especially the two main characters.

Which character – as performed by Bahni Turpin and Lorna Raver – was your favorite?

Bahni Turpin

If you could rename Calling Me Home, what would you call it?

Would not change

Any additional comments?

I think the times have not changed much. Yes, by-racial marriages are here to stay but still frown by family members.

Sad but very hard to stop listening to

I would recommend this book, but I was hoping for a much happier ending. The author builds all relationships incredibly well, making it very difficult to stop listening.