Because so much of Flagg's third novel takes place in the 1970s media-celebrity echelons of New York City, it doesn't offer the regional and historical color and texture of its predecessor, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Instead, Flagg's achievement here lies in a well-choreographed story of loyalty and survival that zigzags deftly across the post-war years, panning in on the never-changing decency of Elmwood Springs, Mo., then pulling back to watch national TV news devolve into sensationalism‘all the while drawing us into the compelling life of Dena Nordstrom. Star of America's most popular morning news show, Dena shuts herself down and shuts men out for painful reasons that are unknown even to her. Only after the stress of ambush- and sound-byte journalism brings on a hemorrhaging ulcer does Dena slowly unearth the scandal that, when Dena was four, drove her mother from Elmwood Springs, hometown of the war hero father that Dena never knew. That her mother's nemesis is a newspaper gossipmonger is nicely ironic, although her mother's secret shame seems slightly larger than life. In contrast, Dena's college friend Sookie and great aunt Elner are reminders of how well Flagg can cook up memorable women from the most down-to-earth ingredients, while a cameo by Tennessee Williams is uncannily true to life. Fans may be sorry at first to leave Elmwood Springs for the big city, but even the most reluctant will get wrapped up in Dena's search for the truth about her family and her past. Author tour; Random House audio. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Author of the best-selling Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) and cowriter of the script for the popular movie based on that book, Flagg follows up with this sentimental look at small-town life. Set during the late '70s, the novel follows the career of Dena Nordstrom, a hard-charging TV anchorwoman determined to make her mark in prime-time television, although she has qualms about its change in focus from hard news to scandalmongering. Despite her aura of confidence, however, Dena is having a tough time. Plagued by a drinking problem and a bleeding ulcer, Dena finally consults a psychiatrist, who helps her face her traumatic feelings about her mysterious, emotionally distant mother and her nomadic childhood. Finally unlocking the secret of her racial heritage, Dena decides to chuck New York for the slower pace and friendly atmosphere of her hometown of Elmwood Springs, Missouri. Framing Dena's story are excerpts from an old-timey radio show broadcast in the '40s and portraits of Dena's eccentric, lovable relatives. With its colloquial style, focus on family problems, and small-town setting, this novel, though somewhat contrived, won't disappoint fans of Fried Green Tomatoes and should also appeal to those who liked Olive Ann Burns' Cold Sassy Tree (1984). --Joanne Wilkinson

How to follow up a sensation like Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe? With this story of rising TV star Dena Nordstrom, who thinks she's too busy for anything but her career. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (1987, etc.) returns with another engaging paean to the joys of down-home southern life. Gorgeous, ambitious Dena Nordstrom is doing very well in 1970s Manhattan. She's the popular star of a network morning show, poised to rise as the ratings-driven TV industry promotes appealing women to make palatable the increasingly nasty interviews that are turning the news into scandalmongering ``entertainment.'' Dena barely remembers Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where she spent four happy years before her mysterious mother abruptly left town and embarked on a decade of wandering before vanishing from 15-year-old Dena's life altogether in 1959. But the folks back in Elmwood Springs remember Baby Girl, daughter of a local boy killed in WWII, and Flagg has some obvious but effective fun with the contrast between the townspeopleŽs homey-to-the-verge-of-caricature existence and Dena's high-powered urban-professional lifestyle. Of course, she's not really happy: she drinks too much and has bleeding ulcers that send her, acting reluctantly on doctor's orders, to a handsome psychiatrist (who falls in love with her at first sight, natch) and then back to Elmwood Springs to recuperate from overwork. Readers may share Dena's initial reaction to the relentlessly folksy locals (``Get me out of here,'' she commands her agent), but the New York cast of characters is just as clichéd: noble, Walter Cronkite-like anchorman; sleazy network executive; sleazier ``researcher''/dirt-digger. The author does, however, know how to spin a rattling good yarn. Even those who gag at the way she holds up ``Neighbor Dorothy'' and her hokey 1940s radio show as the epitome of small-town goodness will probably find themselves flipping pages rapidly to discover what happened to Dena's mother. The denouement has a clever twist, and if the happy ending is not exactly a surprise, it taps into enough classic American fantasies about getting out of the rat race to be quite moving. Shamelessly cornyŽand extremely enjoyable. (First printing of 170,000; author tour)