books about the south

Southern Living, Apr 2005 by Dorman-Hickson, Nancy

The word "ya-yas" flooded our national lexicon when Louisiana native Rebecca Wells wielded the silly term to great effect in her best-selling novel Divine secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. The book followed Little Altars Everywhere, the work that introduced the evocative Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana. The resulting Ya-Ya phenomenon included a Divine secrets feature film and scores of real-life women, bent on bonding, who formed supportive sisterhood groups to celebrate the glad times and overcome the bad.

With the third book, Ya-Yas in Bloom, Rebecca Wells takes readers even further into the lives of her unforgettable characters as well as the "Petites Ya-Ya," the women's offspring and their friends. Here, Southern Living presents a peek at that new work. -NANCY DORMAN-HICKSON

An excerpt from the newest book by the author of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

It was the first of countless adventures for Genevieve and the four girls together at the glorious exotic Bob [theater]-right in their own hometown.

After the magic show, Genevieve and the girls helped the Bobs close up the theater for the night.

'This is fun!' Necie said, thrilled to see behind the scenes.

Then Genevieve invited not only the Bobs, but also Giovanni and his assistants, to join them for ice cream at Labadeaux's Ice Cream Parlor. The sound of bells... announced their arrival at the ice cream parlor. Not that they needed much announcing. What a sight they were as they opened the glass door....Master Giovanni, still in his tuxedo. His female assistant, clad in a scanty red print dress with a slit on one side. His burly male assistant, who wore his cigarettes rolled up in the sleeves of his T-shirt. And an aged woman who seemed to be Master Giovanni 's mother. She spoke halting English, and they could not make out what country she came from or if she just had bad false teeth. The other citizens of Thornton sat sipping their milk-shakes and malteds and tried not to stare. But this became impossible. After Genevieve had made sure her entourage had all the ice cream, banana splits, and cherry Cokes they wanted, Master Giovanni produced four different brightly colored scarves. He made the napkin dispenser disappear, and in its place appeared a vase of flowers.

'Yay! Do it again!' Vivi, Caro, Teensy, and Necie squealed.

'But no,' Master Giovanni said. 'Now it is your turn to perform, my lovely ladies!'

With that, he handed each girl a scarf. The four girls jumped up, each of them with a scarf in her hands. Without speaking, they began to swirl the scarves around, and began to turn their little bodies in circles, swirling the scarves high and then low, wrapping the scarves around their faces like One Thousand and One Nights. At first Necie hung back, but soon she gave over to the fever and joined the dancing quartet. The Bobs, Geneviève, and Master Giovanni and his entourage began to applaud, laughing, and calling out suggestions.

'Roll your hips!' called out the female assistant.

'They are magnifico bambinas, ' said Master Giovanni. 'They should consider going on the stage.'

'La danse divine!' shouted Genevieve.

A local townswoman...approached their table. Genevieve said, 'Oh, do sit down with us and enjoy the show!'

'I most certainly will not,' the woman said. 'I came over to say that you should make those girls behave. How will they ever grow up to be young ladies if you let them behave like this in public?'

Genevieve stared hard at the woman, and for a moment she did not speak. Then she said, 'What this town needs, cher, is beaucoup filles dancing around with scarves in their teeth! This place needs more joie de vivre! We need gaieté!...Let the good times roll!

She gave a wink to Master Giovanni. She smiled at the lady and at the Bobs. The Bobs did not totally agree with her, or even understand everything she'd said, but they thought she was glorious. So long as they did not have to dance with scarves in their mouths.

The girls spun round and round... scarves in their hands, between their teeth, wrapped around their fingers like scarf rings. They did not dance madly like maenads from some Greek tragedy, but like muses, graceful and ready to inspire. The spark that lived in all of them rejoiced when they turned in circles, little whirling wild spirits. Like junior priestesses of some undomesticated tribe, they went somewhere else as they spun into a trance of dizziness as if they were praying. It looked as if they were bad little girls acting like wild sprites, and some of the folks in the ice cream parlor thought them rude and uncouth. But that is only because these townspeople did not know about whirling dervishes and what happens when they dance and pray, pray and dance. They did not know that dance can become prayer and prayer can become dance. The quartet of little girls knew it, and they were so happy in their bodies...that they did indeed seem to glow.

From the book Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells. To be published by HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Copyright © 2005 by Rebecca Wells.