Fair and Tender Ladies is one of those books you would have a dog-eared, tea-stained, cracked spine copy of on your shelf that you wouldn't lend to anyone, its that special.

From the first few pages, even paragraphs, I could tell this was quickly going to become a favorite book. And I was not disappointed, right down to the last word of the book.
The story is told via letters to friends/family from Ivy Rowe, who starts out as a young girl in the mountains of Appalachia. The letters and the language and descriptions are so well done, you cannot help but feel that Ivy is a real person and not just a character in this book. The author obviously did alot of research to get the accuracy correct, down to the gospel songs and backwoods stories, which I appreciated; and in doing so, this book in turn made me appreciate my own family history and stories. I will be reading this book again.