Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A NovelRead Beth Hoffman's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community. Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell. In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer. Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching, Beth Hoffman's sparkling debut is, as Kristin Hannah says, "packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart." It is a novel that explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship and gives us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others. Watch a Video
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From inside the book
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... face, blue eyes, and long brown hair— Momma's pulled away from her face in a headband and mine tied back in a ponytail. “It's amazing,” my mother said, gathering her hair in her hand and holding it back in a ponytail like mine. “Just ...
... face. She'd grab her handbag, hurry me to her car, and off we'd go to do more shopping. Then came the day when Dad arrived home from a three-week business trip. Momma and I were sitting at the kitchen table, she with a magazine and me ...
... face would turn sour and he'd say, “No, Camille. I'm not taking you anywhere until you straighten up. Now go take your pills.” She'd cry and say she didn't need any pills, he'd get mad, turn up the volume of the TV, and drink one beer ...
... face. She gazed down at her wedding picture and slowly lifted it from the vanity. With her tube of lipstick she drew a big red X over my dad's face, then shrieked with laughter, fluffed her hair, and walked out the door. What caused it ...
... mother or what kinds of faces they made. I'd just walk in, take my seat, and keep my eyes glued to the blackboard. Besides, I always knew a smile would be waiting for me every Sunday. Two For as far back as my memory would take.