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Judy Higgins

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The Lady Kindle Edition

by Judy Higgins (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

586

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***A Semi-finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakout Novel Contest***

South Georgia, 1956.
When sixteen-year-old Quincy Bruce goes to live with her Aunt Addy, she has no idea that what happened thirteen years earlier in wartime London can destroy her future. Her parents have gone to Africa as missionaries, leaving Quincy with her free-spirited and lively aunt, a war widow, and the only person who supports Quincy’s ambition to become a musician. When another aunt accuses Addy of having been the inspiration for the adulterous woman in Nathan Waterstone’s infamous wartime novel, The Lady, Quincy vows to prove her wrong. As Quincy settles into her new life with Addy, she sets about unraveling the secrets of Addy’s life, and of Nathan’s, in an effort to discover the true identity of the Lady. When she makes a discovery of a different type, Quincy’s dreams of becoming a pianist come crashing down.

Praise for The Lady:
“I want to read the book. I want to read whatever else I can lay my hands on that this author has written . . . ”
— ABNA Expert Reviewer.

“Quincy is an engaging protagonist, part young woman, part immature girl, who is at once trying to forge a future for herself while seeking to uncover hidden details about the past. Racial divides and small-town prejudices add depth to this uniquely crafted novel with expert plotting and effortless pacing.”
— ABNA Publishers Weekly Reviewer.

“The Lady [is] a fine coming-of-age story set in the late 1950’s. The author...presents not only a fascinating tale of a World War II era secret, but a tale of manners and ethics that will truly shape the young heroine.... An interesting read with some compelling answers that will appeal to a cross-section of people in the same way that ‘The Help’ personalized the struggles of black maids in 1960’s Mississippi.”
— ABNA Expert Reviewer.

“. . . the characters, the story, the writing, the kinds of mini portraits that can capture a character perfectly in just a few words, like this description by Quincy of her dreadful Aunt Mildred:
“. . . Aunt Mildred preached a lot about Hell. She’d also been gifted with the ability to read between the lines in the Good Book. What God meant to say and didn’t, Daddy’s sister knew, and she was more than glad to share that information.”
In short, the kind of storytelling that’s so natural and so gifted and so deceptively effortless looking that it grabs you right away and doesn’t let go. “
— ABNA Expert Reviewer.

Print length

372 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

October 16, 2013
File size

1688 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"I want to read whatever else I can lay my hands on that this author has written..."
-- ABNA Expert Reviewer.

"...The kind of storytelling that's so natural and so gifted and so deceptively effortless looking that it grabs you right away and doesn't let go. "
-- ABNA Expert Reviewer.

"An interesting read with some compelling answers that will appeal to a cross-section of people in the same way that 'The Help' personalized the struggles of black maids in 1960's Mississippi."
-- ABNA Expert Reviewer.

"...[a] uniquely crafted novel with expert plotting and effortless pacing."
-- ABNA Publishers Weekly Reviewer.

About the Author

Judy was born in South Georgia where she grew up playing baseball, reading, and taking piano lessons. To pay for her lessons, she raised chickens and sold eggs to neighbors. She attended Mercer University for two years, and then Baylor University from which she graduated with a BA in German. She received her MA in German literature from The University of Michigan. After teaching German for several years, Judy decided to become a librarian and earned a MA in Library Science at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Judy's life took an exciting turn when she left her teaching job in Pennsylvania to be Head of Library at the Learning Center School of Qatar Foundation. She lived in Qatar for eight years, traveling during every vacation, and enjoying the experience of living in a different culture. Recently, she returned to the United States and lives in Lexington, KY. Judy has two children, Julia and Stephen, two children-in-law, Jim and Erin, and three grandchildren: Kyle, Jon, and Karina.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00FYY34AA
Publisher ‏ : ‎ GossArt; 1st edition (October 16, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 16, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1688 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 372 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0615878083

Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,895 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #10,788 in Coming of Age Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #24,323 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
586

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Judy Higgins

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Judy was born in South Georgia where she grew up playing baseball, reading, and taking piano lessons. To pay for her lessons, she raised chickens and sold eggs to neighbors. She attended Mercer University for two years, and then Baylor University from which she graduated with a BA in German. She received her MA in German literature from The University of Michigan. After teaching German for several years, Judy decided to become a librarian and earned an MA in Library Science at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

Judy's life took an exciting turn when she left her teaching job in Pennsylvania to be Head of Library at the Learning Center School of Qatar Foundation. She lived in Qatar for eight years, traveling during every vacation, and enjoying the experience of living in a different culture. Recently, she returned to the United States and lives in Lexington, KY. Judy has two children, Julia and Stephen, two children-in-law, Jim and Erin, and four grandchildren: Kyle, Jon, Karina, and Addy.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

586 global ratings

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DaveM

Top quality, well written coming of age tale

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2015

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This book, set in 1950's Georgia, is a well-written coming of age tale about a young girl-Quincy Bruce whose parents leave on a two-year long missionary sabatical and deposit her with an Aunt- Addy. Quincy's dream it to become a concert pianist and Addy quickly starts helping her achieve that dream.

THe under-lying thesis of the story revolves around a mystery lady romanticized by a local writer-Nathan Waterstone, in a novel published during the second world war, and called THE LADY. As the subject matter involves an affair between and man (whom Waterstone admits was himself) there is a fair amount of scandal generated. But what everyone wants to know- who was the Lady?

That is the mystery that Quincy is drawn into as her aunt was the typist and proof reader for for Nathan and surely must know her identity. Addy ain't talking, so Quincy sets herself the task of finding out. And, the more sure learns, the surer she becomes that Addy was THE LADY, even though she steadfastly denies it.

While the plot is a little mundane, this is quality writing with strong narrative and dialogue that will hold your interest as Quincy explores her aunt's past.

Highest recommendation!

4 people found this helpful

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Jeff

Well done

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2015

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Started out as a 5 star for me but then flagged during the middle and turned into more of a common mystery than really nice literature. The first half has some really beautiful writing in it and introduces characters you really care for. But then in the middle, the characters become more of a plot device to run the story than the story themselves. I understand the point the author is trying to make, that everyone makes mistakes and the theme of forgiveness, I just missed the quality of writing and character development from the first half. It seemed as if it was a bit rushed to finish the story rather than taking its time. Overall, though, I would definitely recommend it and read this author again.

2 people found this helpful

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Dr. Theodore Ruxpin III

Outstanding

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2014

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I don't normally read coming-of-age novels or mysteries, so I was skeptical of this hybrid of the two genres. Within the first ten pages, I realized that my prejudice was unfounded. Higgins did a great job bringing together an original story with skillful pacing and characters who have an authentic feel to them. As each new character was introduced, I knew someone in my own life who would parallel him or her, so emotionally relating to the story was easy. And unlike so many other stories, I really enjoyed the ending. The greatest endorsement I can give the novel is that the mystery compelled me to finish the last half of the book in a single evening. I just *had* to know how things would be resolved.

I've tried to come up with a criticism of this work, but I simply can't. At times, I got annoyed with the protagonist, but then I realized that she was a sixteen-year-old, and that comes with the trappings of being self-centered and impulsive. After I got that through my head, I felt free to enjoy the character and realized how true-to-life Higgins had made her. So, in fact, the only potential criticism I had was actually of myself as a reader who wasn't being forgiving enough to a realistic character.

5 people found this helpful

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Speedy Grandma

A very interesting story. The reader can climb into the pages and be a fly on the wall!

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018

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Told from the perspective of sixteen-year-old girl Quincy Bruce, THE LADY by Judy Higgins unveils some interesting secrets about Quincy's favorite aunt with whom she goes to live when her parents go to Africa as missionaries. Aunt Addy is everything she should be in young Quincy's eyes, or is she? As a typical snoopy teenager, Quincy is constantly digging to learn who the real "lady" is in her aunt's late employer's novel. As a coming of age story, it is both sweet and interesting--especially as the climax approaches. And, thankfully, Higgins does not leave the reader hanging; she tidies it all up beautifully. I liked THE LADY very much and am giving it five stars even though there were very annoying typographical errors throughout---well, not really mistakes, but several "wordsrunningtogether" (like that). (I read somewhere online that happens sometimes with a font that is not particularly compatible with kindle uploads.) Nonetheless, it made for difficult reading throughout, as it happened often. Still, a good read, and I would recommend it.

4 people found this helpful

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jerri

Such good writing

Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2018

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Judy Higgens is a wonderful writer. The story is very good. The editing is very bad. I suspect it is some error in the formatting of the e-book, a glitch that eliminates spaces between words willy nilly throughout the whole book. Please fix this. It detracts from the quality.

Helpful

Pamela L. Brinegar

A love story, a mystery, and a good read

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2017

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Hailed by reviewers as a coming-of-age story, The Lady is also a love story, a mystery, and a good read. Quincy, the teen-aged protagonist, who “didn’t want to end up like Mama and Hester Prynne,” follows her dreams while living with her fun, sophisticated Aunt Addy. Among the characters is an intriguing pair – the late author Nathan Waterstone and The Lady, a mysterious woman Quincy desperately wants to identify. Higgins has a knack for details (the country church has “hose snagging pews”) and for illustrating contrasts by race and privilege. It is risky to assume that any work of fiction contains autobiographical elements. Nonetheless, this reader wonders whether the author (who clearly enjoys writing) identifies with Aunt Addy’s sentiment: “I love how you can guide a pen across paper and a black line comes out, curving this way and that, and this black squiggle of a line can say something beautiful, or powerful, or funny.” I recommend reading The Lady and watching for future works by Judy Higgins.

3 people found this helpful

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Heavy Thinker

Barely Held My Interest

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2018

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Not much of a mystery. Not a romance novel. I finished it but I had a hard time staying with it.