Book Review: Slightly South of Simple

By Annell Gerson

The tiny but mighty "it girl" of southern fiction, Kristy Woodson Harvey, recently released Slightly South of Simple, the first in her new Peachtree Bluff series. There is much to love in this heartfelt story of a widowed mom, three strong daughters, a coastal Georgia town, and a cast of colorful, small-town characters.

Like mothers do, Ansley Murphy has always put her daughters first. When her husband is killed in the 9/11 tragedy, and she discovers some risky investments he made have left her with basically nothing, she never lets the girls know. Instead, she waits ninety-nine days, until all the fires are out, until shes sure no more bodies will be found, until shes convinced her husband will not miraculously be coming home, and then she begins rebuilding her life.

Ansley sells their New York brownstone, and moves her three girls to the Peachtree Bluff beach house she inherited from her grandmother. She opens a waterfront design business and begins setting aside what funds she can for her girls, so they will never experience the desperation of financial uncertainty that she has.

Eventually, her three daughters, Caroline, Sloan and Emerson, head off for college, pursue careers from California to New York and build their own lives until...they all come back home. Caroline's husband has asked for a divorce, Sloan's husband has been deployed, and Emerson has gotten her "big break" as an actress, working on a film about a subject that will not make her family happy. All this occurs just as Ansley reconnects with Jack, her first summer love, whom she met on Peachtree Bluff when she was only fifteen.

The girls are excited for their mother and encourage the rekindled friendship. However, reconnecting with the past could lead to the discovery of a secret that just might redefine their family.

With a southern heart and a contemporary voice, Kristy Woodson Harvey writes of loss, forgiveness and love, most especially the infinite depth of a mother's love for her children.