Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

by Amy Hill Hearth

  That part he had not considered, Robbie-Lee being one of those “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it” types. There had been a time when I would have thought he was foolish not to have every detail worked out—to be sure Dolores would agree before he went to all this trouble—but now I could see the genius in allowing the future to evolve. You could create momentum. You could launch something and see where it goes. You couldn’t line everything up, like so many dominoes, and make everything fall into place.

  I was proud that I had finally begun to understand this. There was no greater proof than my own plan, which was not really a plan at all—just go see where my mother had come from. To visit Mississippi. Maybe even meet Eudora Welty.

  When I asked for a leave of absence at the post office, in the blank space for return date I had written “unknown.” If Marty couldn’t hold my job open, so be it. The only thing I worried about was my turtles, but then Judd Hart offered to take care of ’em and I had total faith in him. I was ready to take some chances and see the world, not hide behind the post office counter for the rest of my life. I didn’t want my epitaph to be “She Played It Safe.”

  I was the first one at the bus stop, as if the 6:35 a.m. Greyhound to Tampa was my one and only chance to get out of town, even though that old bus stopped in the very same spot every single day of the year. I was beyond ready.

  Priscilla, on the other hand, did not look ready at all. She was clutching her beat-up suitcase with both hands, like she was afraid to let go. Now, as the bus came close, she dropped the suitcase to the ground.

  She turned to Jackie, Mrs. Bailey White, and Plain Jane. She hugged each one and, in a voice way higher than usual, pleaded, “Take good care of her!”

  “Of course we will!” Jackie cried. “And remember, your grandma is in charge! She’ll be the boss.”

  Plain Jane stepped forward at that moment and tried to turn Priscilla back toward Robbie-Lee and me. “Now, don’t be sad, you’ll come home often. Go on and study hard!” she said sternly.

  But it was Mrs. Bailey White who calmed Priscilla down. She scooted around to Priscilla’s other side, took her hand, and whispered something into her ear. It was magic. Priscilla straightened her shoulders, wiped away her tears, and managed a brave little smile.

  The bus was going too fast. For three or four long seconds, I thought it would pass us by, but sure enough the brakes shrieked and it skidded to a stop, the driver having forgotten that sand piled up on this section of the Tamiami Trail. The door popped open like a secret passageway into a tunnel. The time for good-byes was gone.

  Robbie-Lee tossed our suitcases on board, then took Priscilla’s hand and helped her up the first, deep step as if she was Princess Grace. God, you had to love that man. He helped me next, making me feel like a goddess too, and then he hopped on himself. There was barely a second to spare before the driver clamped the doors shut behind us.

  “Go to the back,” the driver barked at Priscilla. She did as she was told and we joined her, breaking the rules about Negroes and whites sitting together. The bus driver turned around in his seat and gave us a bug-eyed scowl. I guess he was too tired to pursue it, and since there was no one else on board to make a fuss, he didn’t stop us.

  The back row was actually one long bench seat, and we half fell onto it as the bus took off. I told myself I would not look back, but I couldn’t resist joining Robbie-Lee and Priscilla, turned sideways and half kneeling so they could peer out the back window.

  Plain Jane and Mrs. Bailey White were waving like they were seeing us off to war. But Jackie—where was she? Had she left already? Maybe, I thought, she’s jealous. The fact that three of us were leaving may have rubbed it in that she was stuck there.

  Then I realized I was wrong. Jackie was in a hurry to pick up the baby, that’s all. Priscilla’s grandmother had to be at work by seven o’clock on the dot or lose a week’s pay. For once in my life, I stopped myself from reading too much into a situation.

  I was thrilled for Priscilla, who had named her baby Jacqueline Dreamsville Eudora Harmon. This was a lovely gesture, but privately I wasn’t sure Naples could handle another Jackie. Apparently neither was Priscilla. Within hours of the baby’s birth, Priscilla chose the perfect nickname. From that moment on, the child was called Dream.

  And that is how three white ladies became nannies to a baby who was black, which—I guarantee—was a first for Collier County. Naturally, this decision resulted in some sensational fireworks. But that is another story for another day.

  Thanks to the Collier County Women’s Literary Society, we all found our place in the world. Jackie, Plain Jane, and Mrs. Bailey White not only took care of Dream while Priscilla was at college, they started an integrated preschool and home for unwed mothers at Mrs. Bailey White’s old Victorian house. Robbie-Lee encountered some bumps in his path, but in the end, he made it to Broadway. Miss Lansbury became an environmental activist who devoted her life to our beloved Everglades. Priscilla not only finished college, she followed in the footsteps of her hero, Zora Neale Hurston, by becoming an anthropologist and a writer.

  As for me, to my absolute amazement, I became a famous author and storyteller. Mine was a circuitous path—with some peculiar adventures along the way—but I wouldn’t change a thing. I saw the world beyond Florida. I even lived in other states. But when I got old, a funny thing happened. I wanted to come home to Collier County. I guess I always knew that one day, I’d return to my little cottage by the Gulf.

  Acknowledgments

  This story is fiction. It was inspired by my mother-in-law, Jacqueline B. Hearth (1928–2004), who really did create a radio show called Miss Dreamsville in Naples, Florida. While my husband, Blair, and his family inspired this novel, the story, actions, and characterizations are my creation.

  Judd Hart is loosely based on Blair. All other characters are invented. Mr. Toomb, for example, is a composite of many people I have known, as is the sheriff. Janey Sue Underhill is my imagined interpretation of what the 1963 Swamp Buggy Queen might have been like. Any similarity to real people is coincidental.

  A special thank-you to Blair for putting up with this entire enterprise. He is not only a great husband, he is a good sport for allowing me to interview him repeatedly for details that greatly contribute to the richness and spirit of this novel. Giving me his class ring—Naples High School Class of 1968—was a playful gesture, and I enjoyed wearing it for inspiration while creating this book. (The ring has a tiny engraving of a swamp buggy on one side and a fishing pier on the other.)

  I am grateful to my parents, Dorothy and Lee H. Hill Jr., for too many things to state here, although I will mention just one. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for moving us all to South Carolina in 1965, when I was six years old. No experience could have helped me understand our country more than living in the Deep South during that era. And with the assistance of my first-grade teacher, the late Mrs. Emma Long, I learned, in no time, to understand and speak “Southern.”

  The origins of my career (and much of the material for this book) stem from my early adulthood in Florida in the 1980s. I attended the University of Tampa, graduating with a BA in creative writing in 1982. Among many meaningful experiences was an internship in investigative reporting at Tampa Magazine. Later, as a staff reporter at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, I met Blair by interviewing him for a story. My ties to Florida continue through my alma mater, old friends, and close relatives living in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

  While this is my debut novel, it is not my first published book. I am the author or coauthor of seven nonfiction books, including the 1993 New York Times bestseller turned Broadway play Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. I wish to thank my literary agent, Mel Berger at William Morris Endeavor, who supported my decision to try my hand at fiction and has celebrated with me the fact that I took the leap and landed on my feet. I am extremely fortunate that the visionary publisher Judith Curr and the brilliant editor Malaika Adero fell in
love with this novel instantly and have been its champions from day one.

  I must thank John R. Firestone, my friend and attorney, for his enthusiasm not just for this project, but for the adventure of publishing. His knowledge and love of books is an inspiration.

  I wrote this novel without telling anyone, except Blair, who was the first to read it. The second was my dear friend, the author Audrey Glassman Vernick, whose insight and encouragement gave me a lift when I needed it most, and gave me the courage to complete the book.

  My local writers’ group (of which Audrey is a member) is owed a debt of gratitude for (among other things) getting me out of the house and away from my desk during the solitary process of writing this novel. Thank you to Audrey, Sharon, Pat, Lillian, Nina, Denise, Caren, Janet, Gwen, Kristen, and Joanne (and emeritus members Kris and Jo).

  Details about Naples are accurate in most instances. By design, there were times when I changed a detail here or there to make my story flow. For example, the bus that takes the threesome out of town on their grand adventures would have stopped at a small bus station in downtown Naples. For symbolic purposes, I wanted the characters to be waiting on US Highway 41, the Tamiami Trail, heading north.

  Readers may ask about the Klan as described in this novel. While the violent encounter springs from my imagination, such incidents were not uncommon in Florida in the early 1960s. I based it on interviews and research I conducted as a reporter in the state in the 1980s, as well as Blair’s own recollections about Collier County. As for Jackie’s encounter with the Klan on Long Island in the 1920s, readers may be surprised to learn that the Klan existed in many parts of the North as well as the South. One of those who survived a Klan encounter circa 1925—on Long Island, in fact—was the late Dr. Bessie Delany. The incident she described to me is included in our book Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, on page 139.

  One last note: I have one thing in common with Dora, the narrator of this novel. As a girl living in South Carolina, I rescued turtles trying to cross a road across the causeway next to our lakeside home. (Apologies to my mother, who was kept in the dark about this particular hobby. And, in a nod to public safety, don’t even think about doing this today, please, unless you have professional training.) Some were snapping turtles and too heavy (and too mean) to carry, so I chased them with a broom or stick to make sure they got safely to the other side. My childhood friend Alison was my conspirator and backup turtle rescue person. (Apologies to her mother too.) I carried on our tradition later, while living in Florida.

  And I still rescue turtles today, wherever I am.

  Miss Dreamsville

  and the

  Collier County

  Women’s Literary Society

  AMY HILL HEARTH

  A Readers Club Guide

  INTRODUCTION

  When Boston-bred Jackie Hart sweeps into sleepy Collier County like a late-afternoon storm on the Gulf, young divorcée Dora has a feeling her life is about to change. Jackie immediately forms the Collier County Women’s Literary Society, and, for the first time in her life, Dora feels she has found her place in the world. The 1960s is a time of shifting perspectives and dramatic change, and as these changes creep slowly into Collier County, Dora and her small group of misfit friends band together—helping each other hold onto their dreams and struggle through the complexities and hardships of everyday life united.

  QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

  1. Discuss the various forms of prejudice that each character is subjected to throughout the novel. Consider not only the racism that exists in Collier County but also the less overt discrimination—like the doctors’ attitude toward Robbie-Lee’s mother’s chest pain, or the way Dora is treated for being divorced. Do you think such attitudes are inherent or learned?

  2. How much of a person’s character is shaped by the times in which they live? Was it difficult for you to imagine a time when segregation was so prevalent that even someone as good-natured as Dora would try “not to stare at the colored girl”?

  3. What was your reaction when Jane reveals to Jackie that she completely fabricates her sex advice articles? Did you find it ironic that she “sounded annoyed” when Jackie asked her if she had actually done what was written in the article? How easy do you think it is to ignore the possible consequences of our actions when we are separated from actually having to see the results—by distance, or otherwise?

  4. Dora says about Jackie, “She was, clearly, a ‘Boston Girl’ through and through. Cultured. Progressive. All that Yankee stuff we Southerners find so irritating.” Later Jackie says, “What a mean little redneck town this is. I had no idea it would be so . . . Southern.” How did you react to this hidden conflict between North and South? Do you think this sentiment still exists today? What do the rest of the literary society learn from Jackie and her Northern family (and vice versa) that changes these attitudes over the course of the novel?

  5. Some authors (e.g., Mark Twain) intentionally use colorful storytellers who are to be believed more because of the underlying truth embedded in the story than adherence to rigid standards of objective reporting. Dora, a self-described storyteller, seems to belong in this time-honored category. Do you think she is telling the truth as she knows it? Can a storyteller be an objective narrator? Can anyone truly be an objective narrator?

  6. What makes Jackie the ideal friend to each member of the Literary Society? What common ground do they share? Do you have someone who has been a similar presence in your life?

  7. Were there any historical facts about life in Florida during the 1960s that surprised you? In what ways does fiction provide a means for a fuller understanding of a nonfiction truth?

  8. Why do you think Jackie was the only one who had such a strong response to The Feminine Mystique? Do you agree with Priscilla that the issues explored in the book weren’t about women universally? What about Robbie’s feeling that men were equally limited in their choices? Do you think their points still hold true?

  9. Discuss the members’ reactions to Their Eyes Were Watching God. What did you think of their conversation? Was anyone’s opinion unexpected? Do you think their conversation was worlds apart from the discussion that would take place today when reading the same book?

  10. Many characters in the book have an alter ego of sorts: Dora is the Turtle Lady, Jackie is Miss Dreamsville, Jane is Jocelyn Winston, and even Miss Lansbury is an Osceola Indian who has been “passing for white.” What do these alter egos simply about each character’s personality?

  11. The town is shocked and angry when they discover Jackie is Miss Dreamsville. Do you think their reaction is warranted? What does it say about the disconnect between fantasy and reality? Do you think there is a real person who could’ve satisfied people’s various visions of Miss Dreamsville? Or would they have been disappointed no matter what?

  12. Jackie says, “Maybe freedom means defining yourself any way you want to be.” Do you agree? How do you feel about Jane’s reaction that “we are a long way from that happening”? Do you think the society members end up defining themselves how they want to be, and thus finding their freedom? Whose life do you think was changed the most by being a member of the society?

  13. Dora reflects, “How hard it must be to keep fighting for your dream when that dream is probably a mirage.” What do you think is the difference between a dream and a mirage? Discuss the role dreams play throughout the novel. Were you surprised to discover Priscilla is pregnant when she seems to have the most focused dream of going to college and becoming an English teacher?

  14. After everything that’s happened to them, Dora thinks, “. . . now I could see the genius in allowing the future to evolve. You could create momentum. You could launch something and see where it goes. You couldn’t line everything up, like so many dominoes, and make everything fall into place.” Do you agree or disagree with her? What was your reaction to the ending? Did the protagonists follow the paths you thought they would?

>   15. What differences (or similarities!) did you notice between the literary society in the novel and your own book club?

  ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

  1. Visit Amy Hill Hearth’s website at www.amyhillhearth.com to learn more about the author and to read her essay “Why I Write.”

  2. Each character in Miss Dreamsville is searching for a purpose to keep them going or a dream to follow. Bring something to your book club that represents a personal passion and turn the meeting into show-and-tell.

  3. Pick one of the books that the Collier County Literary Society reads, such as Silent Spring, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Feminine Mystique, or Little Women to read and discuss at your next book club meeting. How does your discussion compare to the Collier County Women’s Literary Society’s discussion?

  4. If you were to have your own radio personality name what would it be? Go around the group and share your imagined on-air pseudonym!

  BLAIR A. HEARTH

  Debut novelist AMY HILL HEARTH is a former journalist and the author or coauthor of seven nonfiction books, including Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, the New York Times bestseller-turned-Broadway-play. Hearth, a self-described “East Coast person,” has lived in the North and the South and loves them both equally. She met her future husband, Blair, who was raised in Collier County, while she was working as a reporter in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1983. She is a graduate of the University of Tampa.