I’ll Be Home for Christmas:
It’s 1944 and Maggie Culpepper is furious at God because of her mother’s untimely death. She stumbles into a recruiting center and enlists in the U.S. Navy WAVES, leaving Watkinsville, Georgia to serve at a Naval base in New Jersey. The proverbial boy-next-door, William Dove, whose battle with polio has left him unfit for military service, wages a war of his own from the family’s Christmas tree farm. William learns a priceless lesson about surrendering from the farm’s aging caretaker, Tyronious Byrd, who’s struggled through some dark valleys of his own.
“The Big Band sounds and Julie L. Cannon’s gripping characters hooked me in this tender love story set during WWII. With dialogue that dances off the pages, you’ll want to curl up and savor this Christmas offering of renewed faith and yearning for home.” – Carla Stewart, author of Chasing Lilacs.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas made Nielsen’s Top Inspirational Titles for 5 weeks in fall of 2010. In February 2012, it made #8 in Fiction on the CBA Best Sellers list.
The Romance Readers’ Book Club:
Bored with her sheltered life in Rigby, Georgia, fifteen-year-old Tammi senses a cure for her restlessness when she acquires a stack of forbidden romance novels. Eluding the watchful eye of her grandmother, Tammi forms a secret book club with girlfriends, reading about weak-in-the-knees passion. The last thing Tammi expects is to be consumed by her own search for sensual pleasures, but she pursues Leon Dupree, an otherworldly boy who plans to attend seminary and is attempting to flee youthful lust. When Rigby is seized in a devastating drought, local preachers are quick to proclaim sin as the reason. Tammi struggles with her turbulent feelings and the strict expectations of the community. Will she realize that books not only have the power to entertain but to enslave?
The Romance Readers’ Book Club was chosen as a Target Breakout Book.
THE HOMEGROWN NOVELS
This series has been described as “Jan Karon meets Fannie Flagg.”
Truelove & Homegrown Tomatoes:
64-year-old Imogene Lavender and her teenage niece, Loutishie, wage individual battles with grief over the death of Silas Lavender. After the persuasion of well-meaning friends sends Imo off to the frozen foods section of the local grocery, looking for single men buying TV dinners, Lou records her aunt’s man-hunt along with her own all-consuming fear of the Rapture of the Saints and store-bought tomatoes. The seasons of life, death, and renewal are reflected in the seasons of the garden.
“Julie L. Cannon’s book does for the soul what a perfect tomato sandwich does for the appetite – fills it with pure satisfaction.” – Terry Kay, author of To Dance With the White Dog.
Truelove & Homegrown Tomatoes was a finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. It was named by Good Housekeeping as one of ’20 Books to Tote on Vacation.’
‘Mater Biscuit:
Imogene’s estranged mother, Mama Jewell, has begun to show signs of senility, and Imo decides it is her duty to take her in even though the old woman’s temperamental nature stirs up long-buried memories. When Imo’s foster daughter delivers a surprise newborn, Imo feels the squeeze of being in the middle of two very demanding generations. Life isn’t always easy for Imo and her household, but they have only to look as far as the backyard vegetable garden to be reminded that all things change with the seasons.
“Hilarious, poignant . . . I look forward to the next installment of Imo’s search for love.” – Ann B. Ross, author of Miss Julia Throws a Wedding.
Those Pearly Gates:
Imogene fulfills a deathbed promise to marry her late best friend’s husband. Reluctantly she leaves the farm in rural Georgia to follow her new man to the parsonage. But her battle is not what she expects. Imo feels the presence of the Reverend’s late wife and it throws a wet blanket on her attempts at passion. Imo’s foster daughter, Jeanette, recently married to a rockabilly reverend of her own, is so afraid of becoming a ‘church lady’ that she enters an erotic bull-riding contest. It’s not until a devastating event forces Jeanette to see that beauty is not just skin deep that she curtails her passions. All these problems seem small, however, when neighbors suffer a great tragedy and Imo must help them keep their faith.
“Like Winesburg, Spoon River, and Wobegan, Julie L. Cannon’s Euharlee, Georgia, deserves a place on the literary map. She has created a richly textured community, populated with unforgettable, sharply drawn characters. Long after I finished ‘Those Pearly Gates’ I could still hear the bull frogs, taste the sweet tea, and smell the biscuits browning in Imo’s oven. My mother and I adored it – and Momma is as tough as Kirkus.” – Michael Lee West, bestselling author of Mad Girls in Love.
Those Pearly Gates was a finalist for the SIBA Book Award.
