“The complicated mother-daughter relationships make this an eye-opening, thoroughly engaging look at life in the South a century ago…Richly rendered and engrossing, Spera's debut is a powerful look at the lives of women in the early twentieth-century Deep South.” - Booklist The novel is rich with details about the hard physical work and emotional resilience demanded of women in the rural South almost a hundred years ago…Spera’s sure-footed depictions of women’s friendships and mother-daughter relationships are the book’s strengths.”- Kirkus “The first-person narration alternates among the three main characters, and Spera deftly creates distinctive voices for each one. 'Call Your Daughter Home succeeds in painting an atmospheric portrait of the pre-Depression South.'- NPR.org “a slow burn but worth a thoughtful read.”.

“Told in rotating narratives, Deb Spera, in her debut novel, creates a mesmerizing story of motherhood and womanhood.” -Deep South “full-of-heart debut novel.”- Garden & Gun “vibrant, polyphonic first novel”- O Magazine Told in the pitch-perfect voices of Gertrude, Retta and Annie, Call Your Daughter Home is an audacious, timeless story about the power of family, deep-buried secrets and the ferocity of motherhood.

These three women seemingly have nothing in common, yet as they unite to stand up to the terrible injustices that have long plagued the small town, they find strength in the bond that ties women together. Annie is the matriarch of the Coles family and must come to terms with the terrible truth that has torn her family apart. Retta is navigating a harsh world as a first-generation freed slave, still employed by the Coles, influential plantation proprietors who once owned her family. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters from starvation or die at the hands of an abusive husband. It’s 1924 South Carolina and the region is still recovering from the infamous boll weevil infestation that devastated the land and the economy. A stunning tour de force following three fierce, unforgettable Southern women in the years leading up to the Great Depression

Call your daughter home deb spera