Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
A Novel
-
-
4.1 • 128 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
Sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong.
It’s the early 1970s. The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold’s third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life.
Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, she immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she’s always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings Catherine Grace back home. As a series of extraordinary events alter her perspective--and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself--Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began.
Intelligent, charming, and utterly readable, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen marks the debut of a talented new literary voice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Gilmore's novel, set in Ringgold, Ga., in the early 1970s, preacher's daughter Catherine Grace Cline longs to escape smalltown life and move to Atlanta. With a little help from a friend, she does just that only to be called back home because of a family emergency. Back in Ringgold, Catherine Grace is forced to examine her life and her changing town and determine just where she wants to call home. Narrator Tavia Gilbert delivers a winning performance in this audio edition. She ably captures the spirit of the text and its stubborn but smart protagonist. Gilbert's chirpy narration is well paced and conversational, infused with a Southern drawl. Listeners looking for a Southern-fried coming-of-age tale about love and loss and family will not be disappointed. A Broadway paperback.
Customer Reviews
Quick read
Good book. Slow beginning but great end!
Heartwarming
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen is Susan Gregg Gilmore's heartwarming novel about a young woman who is trying to find her own way and place in the world, while balancing that with loyalty and commitment to family and friends. She accomplishes that after growing up in a smalll town, as a PK - Preacher's Kid, a double whammy! As someone who grew up Baptist in a small town, I can attest to the fact that it is an authentic portrayal. I won't give away an spoliers, but she also throws in a bit of romance, with a suspenseful twist.
Amazing character development
This is much more than a coming of age story. The challenges faced and overcome by the protagonist are so complex that few adults could rise above them. Although it takes place in a small town in Georgia, I could see it in a small farming town in the Midwest. Some of the food might be different but it would be plentiful and have the same meaning.