The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder

By: Rebecca Wells

Narrated by: Judith Ivey

Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Known for her beloved Ya-Ya books ( Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Little Altars Everywhere, and Ya-Yas in Bloom), Rebecca Wells has helped women name, claim, and celebrate their shared sisterhood for over a decade.

Now Wells debuts an entirely new cast of characters in this shining stand-alone novel about the pull of first love, the power of life, and the human heart's vast capacity for healing.

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily's life set in Wells's expanding fictional Louisiana landscape. In the small river town of La Luna, Calla bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for. Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood - until it is cut short. Her mother, M'Dear, a woman of rapture and love, teaches Calla compassion, and passes on to her the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair". At her mother's side, Calla further learns that this same touch of hands on the human body can quiet her own soul.

It is also on the banks of the La Luna River that Calla encounters sweet, succulent first love, with a boy named Tuck. But when Tuck leaves Calla with a broken heart, she transforms hurt into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans to study at L'Académie de Beauté de Crescent.

In that extravagant big river city, she finds her destiny - and comes to understand fully the power of her "healing hands" to change lives and soothe pain, including her own. When Tuck reappears years later, he presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love. But who knows how Cally Lily, a "daughter of the Moon Lady", will respond?

©2009 Rebecca Wells (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"The novel is chock-full of Southern charm and sassy wisdom." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Laughed and cried listening to this wonderful story! I thought it was great and want more.

It good book...Good Author

I liked it. I've always enjoyed her books.
However in parts of the book...it dragged. I had to fast forward. Also, I really didn't like the voices that narrator used for the male characters.

good story, didn't like narrator

I kind of wished I read the hard copy instead of listening to it as an audiobook. the story begins with calla lily as a small girl, so the first few hours you have to endure a narrator with a mature woman's voice trying to talk like a little girl. the effect is pretty annoying.

it gets better after calla becomes a teenager.

the story is good though, which is why I gave it 3 stars. I encourage people to listen to a sample before they buy!

Calla Lily Ponder

This book, was a beautiful story. I enjoyed it tremendously. Hope Rebecca Wells is writing another book.

Excellent performance, but...

Ms. Ivey gave an excellent performance, but they missed an edit and at one point you can hear her say “sorry” then repeat the sentence. I loved this fun little story, but thought I’d mention that mistake. Not a huge deal, but I got a chuckle out of that.

Rebecca Wells

Great Funny Book hopes she writes a sequel! Just as good as her Ya Ya

The best yet

I liked this book better than any previous one by this author.
The audio version adds a beautiful dimension to the narrative, this is a book that is best enjoyed listening to it.
Judith Ivey is really great as narrator. The listener forgets it is just one person reading this. There is a clear demarcation between character voices as well as her ability to convey words of interior thought and those spoken. She gets the dialect for central Louisiana, south Louisiana and New Orleans correctly but the editor missed proper pronunciation of mostly words pertaining to New Orleans.
I enjoyed references to fashions, current events and places of the past from the 1970’s and 1980’s that are no longer there.
I appreciate all the research conducted to make the narrative plausible.
The only thing that bothers me a tiny bit with performances of southern voice is that some characters sound ignorant and backward which I am sure they were not.
Like Lenny Bruce said, if Albert Einstein were from Arkansas no one would have believed him.

Sweet Southern Women

This story fills your heart and soul with the feelings of sweet southern women. I cried and I laughed and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. You really feel the hurts and triumphs of Cally Lily Ponder and wish you were one of her great friends. It will be a long while before I forget her.

Great book

Would you listen to The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder again? Why?

I am a hairdresser and I have to say I loved this book.

Have you listened to any of Judith Ivey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Judith is by far the best reader i have ever heard.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was

Engaging story, great narration! A favorite listen

I read a couple of other Rebecca Wells books in the past and enjoyed them, but this story -- about a young girl who grows up in the south -- was my favorite. Very engaging. I couldn't stop listening! It was such a fun story -- happy, sad, funny -- I was pulled in right away. I love Judith Ivey as an actress and was very happy with her acting/narration of the story. Overall it was one of my favorites of all the books I've listened to. And I've listened to a lot!

I definitely recommend this book.