The Education of Dixie Dupree by Donna Everhart

Though Dixie is learning that the family she once believed was happy has deep fractures, even her vivid imagination couldn’t concoct the events about to unfold. But for Dixie and her brother, Alabama is home, a place of pine-scented breezes and hot, languid afternoons. And sometimes the lies are to spite Evie, who longs to leave her unhappy marriage in Perry County, Alabama, and return to her beloved New Hampshire. Sometimes the lies are for her mama, Evie’s sake-to explain away a bruise brought on by her quick-as-lightning temper. In 1969, Dixie Dupree is eleven years old and already an expert liar. I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Kensington Books via Netgalley. Being told through the eyes of a child makes it even more poignant and, in the end, triumphant.ĭixie Dupree, with her spirited tenacity and courage, is going to linger in my mind for quite some time. The Education of Dixie Dupree absolutely does this. They should make the reader feel intensely uncomfortable and empathetic towards the character that suffers through it. This isn’t an easy read sometimes, but stories that deal with abuse shouldn’t be easy to read.

In this magnificent debut novel, Everhart writes with gritty realism and shines a harsh light on the ugliness of abuse. There’s no gentle way to tell such a story such as this and still have it ring true. She finds that life can be ugly, even brutal, and she faces it all with incredible strength and resilience. Dixie Dupree’s observations about her life and the people in it create a vivid world that is sometimes funny, sometimes agonizing, that always feels very real.

The Education of Dixie Dupree by Donna Everhart