Growing Up Wilder

By: Melissa Newman

Narrated by: Heather Jane Hogan

Dancy Wilder and her sister Marla are navigating childhood successfully in spite of their father’s crazy romantic encounters - a spiritualistic grass-smoking hippie, a double-D cup kleptomaniac known over the CB airwaves as Hot Ginger, and an olive-skinned Greek goddess, just to name a few.

Dancy and Marla's father, Everett, is raising his two girls alone. A perpetual bachelor and successful lady’s man, Everett can have just about any woman he wants. Problem is, he wants them all - and likes them all a little crazy.

Follow Dancy and Marla as they grow into strong, capable, common sense women who have taken something of benefit from each of their father’s many love interests, including their Momma Lou, a biker chick, who they learn has a secret profession that keeps the Wilder financials in the black.

©2013 Melissa Newman (P)2020 Melissa Newman

Different coming of age story

This story was a little hard for me to get into but I did enjoy once the story started moving. Coming of age is not always easy and when you are in the Wilder family, it's double difficult. Past and present collide to give a story you won't soon forget.

Very well told story..

I loved how the narrator put you in the right mind space to totally get the most of this story. In this is simply the lives of two sisters growing up in a disfunctional family that worked for them. I loved every word of it.

You can taste the watermelon & feel the fireworks

"Growing up Wilder" is a delightful story, beautifully written and brilliantly performed. Melissa Newman transcends the label of "author" and is even beyond "storyteller." She should rightfully be called a "story crafter" for this wonderful work.

If you want to taste the watermelon, see the fireworks, and smell the lavender of the south in the 1970's, then this is a must-listen! You will find your own experiences of youth wrapped up in Dancy's stories, and you will hold your breath as the mystery of youth is unfurled for you.

Newman has absolutely nailed every detail of growing up. At one point she describes a fight between Dancy's parents, who are stringing together compound cuss word insults and slinging them at each other, as similar to her own attempts to get a bigger effect by tying fireworks together with tape and rubber bands. Absolutely brilliant writing!