Gone South by Meg Moseley

Tish McComb never planned to move from Michigan to Alabama, but somehow life just worked out that way. Her dad’s great-great-grandmother’s Civil War era home was there, it was for sale, she made an offer, and suddenly she was a misplaced Yankee living in Noble, Alabama. Bringing her antique photo of her namesake, she moved in with all her earthly goods. Hence the name of the book--Gone South--Tish has gone south for the duration. No matter what may come, this is her new home.

But when she set out to find a job, open a bank account, and turn herself into a Southerner, she found she had cut off more than she could chew. In the little town of Noble, people remembered the first McCombs. They called them carpetbaggers and cheaters, and generations later, they still resented the long dead people. The bank manager, the people at the garden club, even the managers of the local bar-be-cue restaurant, snubbed her. Everywhere she went, she met people who turned away when they heard her name, which was the same as her great-great-grandmother’s—Letitia McComb.

Another black mark against her, in the town’s estimation, was that she befriended Melanie, a 20-year-old whose family had turned her out of their home. So these two outcasts set out to make their way in the town, one that does not want to show mercy, love, and forgiveness to a new resident, Tish, or to one that just wants to come home, Mel.

 Tish’s neighbor, George Zorbas, and his uncle, Cal, ran an antique shop near Tish’s new home. It's fun getting to know these characters, as they are two of the few who will interact with Tish and Mel.

Tish is willing to give Mel a home and help her overcome the problems that caused her to leave home in the first place, while she keeps on trying to become acquainted with her new neighbors. There is a lot of humor in this book, amid the problems that Tish and Mel try to overcome. Author Moseley spends a lot of time developing these characters in their new setting, and she does a good job of making them people the reader wants to know.

I hope you will read Gone South and enjoy the development of the characters as much as I did. Ms. Moseley’s first book, When Sparrows Fall, was just as delightful, but with a totally different premise. This is Meg Moseley’s second novel.