Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind - Ann B Ross

Published by William Morrow and Company, Inc./HarperCollins Publishers: New York, NY, 2000 (1999).

This is an odd and quite funny book about recently widowed Julia Springer, who has inherited her late husband's rather large estate after years of being told not to have anything to do with finances. Being an old-fashioned southern woman, Miss Julia has always relied on men to run things for her, but now is beginning to enjoy the freedom to make her own decisions. However, this freedom is soon threatened by Pastor Ledbetter - the main villain of the piece - who believes that he was promised a large donation by the late Wesley Lloyd Springer, and is determined to manipulate Miss Julia in order to receive it. A second complication arises when Miss Julia is made the unwilling guardian of Little Lloyd, the illegitimate nine-year-old son of Wesley Lloyd that Miss Julia had no idea existed! Now Miss Julia must fight for her independence, attempt to track down Little Lloyd's vanished mother, do battle with not one but two shady preachers, while also protecting herself against gossipy neighbours and even suspiciously affectionate suitors-to-be. 

The fun of this book heavily relies on the character of Miss Julia; she is a strongly stereotypical southern woman, cynical and sharp-tongued, yet with an underlying warmth and love for God - even while she becomes more and more disillusioned with the spiritual and leadership figures in her life. The villainous preachers are appropriately exaggerated while being sadly believable, and Miss Julia's supporting cast of characters also adds to the fun - even her maid Lillian gets a few moments to shine.

Although the spiritual figures in this book are definitely corrupt and devious, which could lend itself to being a difficult book to read for someone in a similar role, I still found myself enjoying the book as a whole. Sadly, I do think a number of preachers could be swayed by the love of money as the ones in Miss Julia are, so its not outside the realms of possibility to find them acting in these ways. Not that the book is supposed to be all that realistic!

In the end, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind is a fun and quirky book with a satisfying ending, and I could see myself reading another in the series to revisit these enjoyable characters.

Completed 1 July 2023.

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