Greetings from Nowhere

Aggie isn’t expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn’t know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby’s new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad’s plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta’s birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad in such a hurry and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life to replace the one that was fractured when Willow’s mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

From an author long recognized for her true Southern voice and heartfelt characters, Greetings from Nowhere, with its four intertwining stories, brings Barbara O’Connor’s work to a new level of sophistication.

Aggie isn’t expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn’t know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby’s new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad’s plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta’s birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad in such a hurry and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life to replace the one that was fractured when Willow’s mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

From an author long recognized for her true Southern voice and heartfelt characters, Greetings from Nowhere, with its four intertwining stories, brings Barbara O’Connor’s work to a new level of sophistication.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8- Aggie Duncan cannot muster the energy to fix up the Sleepy Time Motel since her husband died, and with no visitors stopping by on North Carolin's Smoky Mountains back roads, she reluctantly concludes that it's time to sell. Within days of placing an ad, she has an offer from Clyde Dover, who is eager to make a new life for himself and his daughter, Willow, after his wife's desertion. They are soon joined by Loretta and her parents, who are on a journey to learn more about Lorett's birth mother, and Kirby and his mother, whose car broke down en route to a last-ditch reform school. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Aggie, Willow, Loretta, and Kirby as the four family units get to know one another and form unlikely friendships. While Clyde is eager to improve the motel, Willow shows him the wisdom of keeping some of Aggie's traditions. Angry Kirby, who has spent a lifetime living up to his label as a troublemaker, is initially irritated by Lorett's bubbling optimism, but he comes to appreciate the value of her trust. And Aggie learns that even the emptiness of her husband's absence cannot seal her heart from a girl who misses her mother. O'Connor's knack for well-developed characters and feisty protagonists is evident, as is her signature Southern charm. While the format increases the distance between readers and characters, the author's fans will find much to enjoy in this examination of family in the 21st century.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

BARBARA O’CONNOR is the author of several noteworthy books for children, including Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, which has appeared on nearly twenty state award master lists. She lives in Duxbury, Massachusetts.