Emmybeth Speaks

EMMYBETH SPEAKS is the debut novel for author Tammy Robinson Smith. Emmybeth Johnson is a nine-year old girl who lives in Little Creek, Tennessee in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Her story begins late in the summer of 1971. Emmybeth likes to know what is happening with the adults in her family and in the community in general. She has a favorite "hidey hole" where she listens to her mother, grandmother and the ladies from her church's sewing circle as they discuss the latest news and gossip from Little Creek. Emmybeth treats the reader to the "goings on" of the community from her naive perspective, which is sometimes closer to the truth than she knows. EMMYBETH SPEAKS is a story about a community of women who band together to help a friend and her family in a time of crisis. Emmybeth is a wonderful little witness and narrator for this phenomenon. It is her first brush with "Girl Power" and a lesson she won't ever forget Throughout the story, other events take place which surprise Emmybeth. Her paternal grandfather, a long-time widower, begins a romance with a "spinster" from her mother's sewing circle. Their love story bears a tale worth repeating, that love can come at any age. Emmybeth also witnesses the first divorce in Little Creek; an incident which gives rise to vicious gossip in the place Emmybeth least expects it -- her church. She sees that even though people purport to be loving and forgiving, they don't always act that way. Most of all, Emmybeth begins to realize than even grownups are only human. Emmybeth loves her life in Little Creek and her family with all of her heart. She doesn't think her circumstances will ever change. When they do, the fallout confusesher, but with the help of the women who surround her, she survives the change and endures. EMMYBETH SPEAKS is a literary treat for all ages