Helpful Score: 1
I'm always wary of books claimed to be the next To Kill A Mockingbird, since I haven't found a book yet that can match that classic, but The Queen of Palmyra comes close. Perhaps its best feature is the way that none of the events in the book are toned-down or sugar-coated, a fact which makes for difficult reading but a rich story. The characters are well-developed and as in all good Southern literature the sense of place is wonderfully rich. No, this isn't To Kill A Mockingbird, but it's a great, if emotionally difficult, read in its own right.
This book was great-- life in a small Mississippi town from the eyes of an 11 yr old girl whose father is a member of the KKK and whose mother's politics is a polar opposite. The town, the times (early 60's), the characters are well described.
