A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

"I should have known better; I was turning forty-five, and that meant it was a trouble year. Every fifteen years God flicks at us with one careless finger and we spin helplessly off into the darkness. I'd known that Old Testament-style plagues would be stalking my family the second that December ticked over into January."
                            -Big, from the Prologue of the novel

I read gods in Alabama and Between, Georgia by this author some time ago and enjoyed them both. When I saw this one in a bookstore, I remembered the author's name and put it on my "To Read" list immediately. I recently ordered both the print book and the audio version from the library. When they arrived I quickly loaded the CDs and began listening in my car. I thought it particularly interesting that the novel was being read by the author. It doesn't take long to be intrigued by the plot with a secret grave being found in a back yard. I became so involved that when I wasn't driving enough to satisfy my curiosity, I began reading the print version and finished in a couple of days. A page-turner, it was! I rate it a 5---the second book in a row that I have loved.

The setting is Immita, MS, a fictional town, I am thinking. (Do you suppose we can call Ms. Jackson a Southern writer?)
Three generations of Slocumbs are the main characters---Virginia, called Ginny by friends and Big by family; Liza, the daughter, struggling to recover from a stroke; and 15-year-old granddaughter, Mosey with typical teenage angst and thrown into an identity crisis more profound than most. The reader follows the plot through the narrations of these three women, alternating through the novel. Their voices are very unique. Mosey relates her part often with humor typical of a teenaged girl complete with texting. (I loved finding out how Mosey got her name toward the end of the novel.) Big, the matriarch, is more serious. Liza actually narrates in third person which is fitting because her stroke has left her with minimal ability to communicate. So Liza's parts were the most frustrating and challenging to read, but that made her condition seem more realistic and moving.

Not being a "spoiler" I can't say much about the plot other than what I mentioned in the first paragraph. The mystery of the grave is revealed little by little with exciting twists and surprising turns and even some romance. A wild ride!