Bett Norris

Featured in the September 2007 Issue

Miss McGhee
By Bett Norris

Bywater Books, PO Box 3671, Ann Arbor, MI 48106, www.bywaterbooks.com

ISBN 978-1932859331  $13.95 288 pgs

What if you’re a girl, at age 16, who falls in love with another girl – but it’s the 1940s? And then you moved on, only to get in trouble again? What if you had no reasonable expectation of finding love and living happily ever after?

This is Mary McGhee’s life. She’s been in that situation one too many times. Now in her late 20s, once again she’s starting over, in a new town called Myrtlewood, Alabama. This time she’s taken a position as a secretary at the town lumber mill, owned by the rich and prestigious Dubose family. Little does she know she’s walking into a town full of busybodies and vipers, and the job she’s taken is no simple matter. The head of the family has died, leaving his wealth and the mill to his incompetent son, Tommie Dubose, and Mary must come on the scene and somehow turn the business around while not angering the men in town, many of whom work at the mill.

But Lila Dubose, Tommie’s wife, is a port in the storm, and as Lila and Mary get to know each other sparks begin to fly. Will Miss McGhee once again find herself exiled – or worse?

Bett Norris has crafted an impressive story that takes place after World War II and at the brink of the civil rights movement. Her prose is clean and clear with moments of great beauty and lush description. Readers definitely feel as though we are THERE – living in this small town, at a time when white men seemed to rule all, and opportunities for women, minorities, and gay people were all but impossible to find.

This is no typical romance, and the various characters in the story face mounting obstacles. Anyone stepping outside society’s rules for women and blacks was bound to suffer, and there is great tension and drama in the way Norris rolls out this tale. But the love that grows between various people, in particular, Miss McGhee and Lila Dubose, is a joy to watch. The alliances Mary and Lila make and the stands they take kept me poring over this novel until late into the night.

MISS MCGHEE is an excellent novel, filled with drama, excitement, and passion. The tone is pitch perfect, and the author has created a terrific cast of characters you’ll remember long after finishing the book. I give this one my highest recommendation.

Lori L. Lake

Midwest Book Review

This is not a book review but rather a strong recommendation -- I used
to write book reviews for a living but gave it up as a bad job.  Now,
I'm strictly recommendations and the occasional blurb.  But I am sorely
tempted to break my own rule for Miss McGhee.  This is Bett Norris'
debut novel, and it is a breath-taking work.  I am in awe of Bett's
achievement with this novel and of her skill as a writer.  I was deeply
moved by the story, its setting, and its characters.  I don't know what
to say except "wow" and "get yourselves a copy as soon as possible." 
The book is set in small-town Alabama, and the title is a bit misleading
-- Miss McGhee might just as well have been called "Mary and Lila." 
It is certainly reminiscent of Patience and Sarah, but frankly, I
think it's better -- much better.  Miss McGhee begins in 1948, ends
in 1965, and follows the complicated but utterly entrancing relationship
between Mary McGhee, a transplanted Yankee businesswoman, and Lila
Dubose, a smart, savvy Southerner who moves from innocence to wisdom
with Mary's help -- and sometimes in spite of Mary's fear.

Bett takes the full measure of the nascent civil rights movement, and
her characters are real, not perfect.  Sometimes they get it very right
(by our 2007 standards) and sometimes they get it wrong, but they always
grow and learn and try.  I don't want to give away any more than that --
I just want everyone to read this book, and I do mean everyone.  Buy a
copy for yourselves, and then get copies for your relatives, your
friends, the public library -- this is a crossover book that has
universal appeal without compromising its lesbian content.

Joan Opyr

Miss McGhee by Bett Norris; Bywater Books; 285 pages; ISBN 9781932859331; $13.95; Genre: Historical Romance

How do you review 285 pages of magnificence and do it justice?

Mary McGhee made a mistake and part of her penance is being exiled to a small Alabama town in 1948 to help run the lumber mill that the town depends on for survival.  The mill has been left to a man with the mental development of a twelve year old and Mary turns to his wife, Lila Dubose, as a natural ally to combat the forces in the town who view her as an outsider and unqualified to run the business.  In her own way, Lila is also an outsider because she was brought from a poor family to ostensibly be the wife of the town prince, but in reality to be his lifelong care giver, so many people resent her new wealth and prestige.  As the women work together to strengthen the mill and the town, they are drawn into a relationship that, at that time, would not only earn them the condemnation of the town's people, but could earn them each a prison sentence.  Years of living in secrecy take a toll on the women, but not their relationship as the women learn that they have friends who support them, ironically most of whom come from the segregated Negro community.  Eventually, everyone has something more to talk about than the women's relationship.  The book progresses through the 1950s and into the 1960s which sees the town trying to cope with the growing civil rights movement.  Mary and Lila, who were already taxing the town's patience by helping the local Negroes, find themselves becoming more immersed in the movement.  They have come to realize that, while they may not be able to alleviate the discrimination against them, they may be able to help someone else.  There is an inevitable confrontation that demonstrates the level of homophobia and racism of the period, but also teaches other lessons.

Miss McGhee strikes so many chords beautifully that starting with one unfairly infers that it was better done than the others.  Hopefully, it won't only be Southerners of a certain age who can grasp how well Bett Norris has captured the tone of the period just preceding and during the early years of the civil rights movement.  Many white Southerners weren't blatantly racist as much as they were clueless.  They lived in a society that they had never questioned, which Lila Dubose represents perfectly.  Not until Mary challenges "the way things have always been" does Lila begin to realize the depth of injustice she has been taught to tolerate.  Southern blacks didn't accept the system, but rather coped with something that they thought couldn't be changed; however, there was a group of black women who were acknowledged by both parts of society and respected for their wisdom, strength and dignity.  Norris has captured those women in the figure of Annie who provides the force behind much of the story.  The historical accuracy of this book creates a tone that will have the reader believing that these characters actually lived.  The book reads more like an observation of real events than a fictional story.  The mood is reminiscent of Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" or Carson McCullers' "The Member of the Wedding" and just as compelling as either of them.  The accuracy extends to the relationship between Mary and Lila.  These are not two lesbians who are out and proud, defying society's conventions, but two women who are trying to nurture a relationship within the confines of the time.  Yet, at the end of the story, the reader should sense that, with the unfolding of the black civil rights movement, the gay rights movement feels its first stirrings, which is also accurate.

Miss McGhee is one of those rare books that screams for a follow up.  After writing such a powerful novel in her first attempt, Norris may be hesitant to try to recapture the magic, but the reader can only hope that she tries.

Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Lambda Book Report, Fall, 2007, Volume 15, Issue 3

Step back to a 1940’s America that is struggling with its attitudes towards people of color and women’s rights.  Bett Norris presents a deeply moving novel that captures the reader with its portrayal of the struggle for equality in post WWII.

Miss Mary McGhee has arrived in Alabama to be the secretary to new lumber mill president Tommie Dubose. However her first day of work is disastrous when she discovers that Tommie is incapable of running the troubled mill.  With determination she takes over the everyday decision-making, much to the shock of the town. Her biggest ally is Lila Dubose, the boss’s wife, who helps Mary turn the mill around.  In time both women admit to feelings beyond friendship and embark on a romance that must be kept secret from a gossiping town.  To add to their troubles they hire men of color to work in the mill side by side with white men, angering this severely segregated town.  Their story spans over twenty years and explores the sexist and racist attitudes towards women and people of color as they struggle for equality.

Norris’ writing is tight and by incorporating the segregation and bigotry towards people of color in the 1940’s south, she elevates the story to a higher level beyond the romance of Mary and Lila.  Her characterizations are wonderful, especially McGhee’s anxiety about her lesbianism in this pre-Stonewall era.  At every turn this wonderful novel showcases how two very different groups can come together to make change. 


Cecilia Martin