Womenfolks: Growing Up Down South

Womenfolks is one of those books that, although written about specific people in a specific place, captures the hearts of all who read it. A rich blend of personal memoir and meditation on family myth and tradition, it is both an illuminating examination of mothers and daughters and a vivid tribute to the gritty, independent women who were the South's true heroines.

In a rich blend of memoir and meditation, Abbott focuses her graceful and witty attention on mothers and daughters of the South. Theirs is a world of red dirt and backbreaking chores and roof-raising revival meeting--a far cry from the magnolias and mint juleps of Gone with the Wind.