Sugar

In a debut novel that
blends the rich, earthy atmosphere of the deep South and a voice imbued
with spiritual grace, Bernice L. McFadden tells the story of two women: a
modest, churchgoing wife and mother, and the young prostitute she
befriends.. "When Sugar arrives in 1950s Bigelow - waltzing down the
main square of the sweltering tiny Arkansas town as if she has every
right to be there - no one tosses out the welcome mat or invites her in
for a Coke. The Bigelow women hate her from the minute they lay eyes on
her - on the bouncing blond wig and red-painted lips that tell them she
has never known a hard day's work. All they know is they want her gone,
out of their town, and away from their men.. "But Sugar has traveled too
far and survived too much to back down now. She parks herself in the
house at #10 Grove Street, even though she feels there is something
about Bigelow that is calling up the past she prayed she'd left behind..
"Deep in her soul, Pearl Taylor knows what it is that Sugar feels,
because it happened to her. It was the day her world shut down, the day
the devil himself murdered her young daughter, Jude. It wasn't that
Pearl stopped believing in God, exactly; she just couldn't trust him the
way she used to. Then Sugar moves in next door, and Pearl's life
irrevocably changes. Over sweet potato pie, an unlikely friendship
begins, transforming the lives of two women - and an entire community.