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Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

A Novel

Audiobook
0 of 3 copies available
Wait time: About 9 weeks
0 of 3 copies available
Wait time: About 9 weeks

"Kirsten Miller has that rare ability to take a serious subject and make it very, very funny. I enjoyed this novel and you will too."—James Patterson

The provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking! Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us a bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.

Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she's actually read. To replace the "pornographic" books she's challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she's sure the town's readers need.

What Lula doesn't know is that a local troublemaker has stolen her wholesome books, removed their dust jackets, and restocked Lula's library with banned books: literary classics, gay romances, Black history, witchy spell books, Judy Blume novels, and more. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean's library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean's enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town's disgraced mayor.

That's when all the townspeople who've been borrowing from Lula's library begin to reveal themselves. That's when the showdown that's been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 1, 2024
      This incisive comedy from Miller (The Change) finds a Georgia town transformed amid a fight over book bans. Lula Dean, a restless empty nester who’s starved for attention, finds purpose by banning books she deems inappropriate for children, among them Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Furthering her crusade, Lula stocks a makeshift lending library in front of her house with “appropriate” titles like The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. Lindsay Underwood, a lesbian teen, takes action by sneaking banned books into the lending library under the cover of dust jackets belonging to Lula’s approved books. As various townspeople read the works Lula meant to ban, they start changing their lives and the town for the better (a formerly subservient woman outs her husband for secretly collecting Nazi memorabilia; a high school football star comes to accept his gay older brother; and a group of teens rally against the town’s Confederate monuments). The story climaxes with a heated race for town mayor between Lindsay’s mother, Beverly, who vehemently opposes the book bans, and Lula. While some of the plot turns strain credulity, they make for a clever send-up of book banners’ misplaced fears. Miller’s fans will flock to her latest page-turner as social critique. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Golden Voice Narrator January LaVoy becomes the characters of Troy, Georgia, as they face off on the issue of banning books in libraries. Lula Dean, the prime book banner, fills her little free library with "wholesome books." Little does she know that her rival, Beverly Underwood's daughter, Lindsay, put banned books beneath the wholesome book jackets. Oh, my! LaVoy imbues these diverse characters with tones ranging from gruff to sugary sweet, matching their personalities perfectly. LaVoy acts out this story with grace, a touch of humor, and just a smidgen of emotion as it tackles topics ranging from LGBTQ+ relationships, anti-Semitism, bigotry, and a secret Neo-Nazi group to the power of books and the freedom to think for oneself. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

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