The Book of Polly

A Novel

By: Kathy Hepinstall

Narrated by: Jenna Lamia

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

With a kick like the best hot sauce, this is the laugh-out-loud story of a girl determined to keep up with her aging, crazy-as-a-fox mother.

Willow Havens is 10 years old and obsessed with the fear that her mother will die. Her mother, Polly, is a cantankerous, take-no-prisoners Southern woman who lives to chase varmints, drink margaritas, and antagonize the neighbors - and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the young, modern mothers of their small conventional Texas town. She was in her late 50s when Willow was born, so Willow knows she's here by accident, a late-life afterthought. Willow's father died before she was born, her much older brother and sister are long grown and gone and failing elsewhere. It's just her and bigger-than-life Polly.

Willow is desperately hungry for clues to the family life that preceded her, and especially Polly's life pre-Willow. Why did she leave her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, 50 years ago and vow never to return? Who is Garland Jones, her long-ago suitor who possibly killed a man? And will Polly be able to outrun the Bear, the illness that finally puts her on a collision course with her past?

The Book of Polly has a great blend of humor and sadness, pathos and hilarity. This is a bittersweet novel about the grip of love in a truly quirky family, and you'll come to know one of the most unforgettable mother-daughter duos you've ever met.

©2017 Kathy Hepinstall (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Delightful...funny and poignant." (People)

"A mother/daughter comedy steeped in quirky characters, personal history mysteries, and no small amount of love, The Book of Polly is a delightful read about one of the world's most fundamental relationships." (Refinery29)

"Hepinstall’s Southern coming-of-age novel...[is] full of laughter and warmth and sadness. This is a warm and fresh tale." (Publishers Weekly)

Polly, my hero!

What made the experience of listening to The Book of Polly the most enjoyable?

I will listen to this story again. Heartwarming, charming, haunting, funny, and sad. The book ended too soon.

I fell in love with these characters

I loved this book…I loved all the characters and wish the book hadn’t ended!

I honestly fell in love with Polly and her daughter Willow these two had me laughing and crying both are such fantastic characters and I do mean characters. When we first meet Polly she has a falcon on her shoulder during a school meeting, I loved the during this meeting there is a line that Willow says,

“I was in fact a liar, I had told some lies and even worse some truths about my mother to my classmates, in my defense she was great fodder and this was years before she killed our neighbor.”

How can anyone resist that line? I had to know more about Polly and so does Willow. Willow is a late in life child and her father died before she was born so it was pretty much Polly and Willow against the world, yes, she had older siblings but they were older and out of the house already. We do meet them and I loved her brother Shel her sister is kind of an odd duck but that is to be expected. I really enjoyed the scenes with Shel and the resolution of this storyline was very fulfilling.

Willow understands her mother is older than most of the kids but she worries most about her mother getting THE BEAR which in Polly’s world is cancer and this does make Willow a little anxious about Polly. Also Willow is really curious about Polly’s younger years all she knows is her mother has never gone back to her hometown and that something awful happened there and Willow is bound and determined to find out, just as determined as Polly is to keep her secrets.


Jenna Lamia’s narration was fabulous she was perfect as Willow and she also got to do some other fun voices like the Preacher at the end oh my that was great narration. Fabulous job.

Fans of CeeCee (Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman) Starla (Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall) or Swan ( The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield) will love this book as much as I did. Southern fiction, funny and oh the feels.

5 Stars

Amazing reader

This book is worth listening to if for no other reason than a listen to this narrator. But the story was wonderful as well. Sweet and funny and I loved it!

Narrator is amazing!

I was captivated by this story and especially the narrator within the first minute of starting this book. A wonderful mother-daughter story, adventure, love and Polly, an unforgettable character.

Delightful

Delightful, enthralling, told in memoir style as by a young girl about her life and her mother

absolutely charming

so enjoyed this book and the narrator adds to the experience beautifully. a coming of age story.

There are not enough stars...

The narration in this book is beyond words. Fabulous. A narrator can ruin a book for me in the first 5 minutes. I never wanted this story to end!

It's A Wonder Life

I enjoyed this novel told through the eyes of a young girl named Willow. The child of an elder mother & subject of this most delightful novel Polly. Willow was born into this world in her mother's 50's. I feel as though Willow lost a lot of her childhood by worrying about her mother & her age and The Bear. Polly made for a great story because its told basically from Willows young spand of 10-15 years old. She spent a lot of time with her mother she seemed to be a very bright and beautiful intelligent young girl and it kind of reminded me of my daughter and l a few tear jerking joyful moments. I think this was one of the most human intrest .. thrilling enjoyable books that I've read this year. I'm normally into Suspense and Mysteries and sometimes I move along to other books and this was one of the ones that I thought was going to be a total heartbreak book of the year when chose it but it was actually a beautiful beautiful beautiful story . I was addicted from the first sample reading I bought it and could never stop listening up until the very end. I couldn't have written it better myself .
I give the writer and the narrator a confirmed and well deserved FIVE STARS!!!A MUST READ FOR EVERY SINGLE MOTHER IN THE UNIVERSE....and everyone else too... 😀 Author DeAnn DeVille official audible review.

Narrator is so talented!

Great story read by an amazing narrator! Loved it so much!! I search for books by narrators and Jenna Lamia is one of my favorites! The Help, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt are also wonderful! Thank you!

AMAZING narration!

Love, love, love this story, thoroughly brought to life by the narrator. Highly recommend it.