Wildwood Flowers

by Julia Watts

When Bev's lover Andie receives an assistant professorship at a Christian-affiliated college, Bev does her best to be supportive. But she isn't too thrilled about the prospect of moving from Boston's lesbian ghetto to the small southern town of Morgan, Kentucky. Before she and Andie are even unpacked, a nosy neighbor is at the door with a welcoming cake and a basketful of personal questions. Bev is shocked when Andie tells the woman that the two of them are cousins - and mortified when the woman promises to set them up with all the eligible men in town, beginning with her grandson Cricket, the local mortician.

Thus begins a hilarious and heartwarming tale of lesbian culture shock, the resiliency of true love, and the maddening gap between coming out and being out.

Genres: LGBT, Lesbian, Romance, Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Julia Watts is the author of over a dozen novels, including the Lambda Literary Award-winning Finding H.F.., the Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Literary Society Award finalist The Kind of Girl I Am, and the Lambda Literary Award finalist and Golden Crown Literary Award-winning Secret City. She holds a B.A. in English from The University of Tennessee, an M.A. in English from the University of Louisville, an MFA in Writing from Spalding University, and a PhD in Literacy Studies from The University of Tennessee. She lives in Knoxville and is a member of the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame. Her young adult novel, Quiver, was a SIBA Okra Pick and a finalist for the Foreword Indies Award, and her young adult novel Needlework won an Honorable Mention in the Foreword Indie Awards and was selected by the Library of Congress for its "Great Reads from Great Places" program. Her new novel for adults, Lovesick Blossoms, is available from Three Rooms Press.

Reviews

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when a lesbian couple moves from Boston, Massachusetts to Morgan, Kentucky? Andie and Bev settle into their new lives and jobs in the Bible Belt — with one little hitch: Andie wants to keep their relationship secret. Wildwood Flowers isn't my favorite Julia Watts novel for sure, but it still made a fun, engaging read for a road trip. The plot is predictable and at times unbelievable (Gary Clarke, after seven years?), but the book is also full of vibrant Appalachian characters, a cat named kitty lang, and lots of moments of humor interspersed with the drama. Somewhere between a "2" and a "3."

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another novel from the golden years of lesbian fiction. Dang, we were spoiled in the 80s and 90s! Anyway, this a cute little tale dealing with the pressures of living closeted in a small town in the Bible Belt

[Zuska · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent fast read, this short novel is well-plotted with a great bunch of characters beyond the main two, Andie and Bev. Even the bit players come to life in just a few paragraphs. It's a great addition to the genre of "life in academia" novels. The parallel but contrasting lives of Andie & Bev, Nina & Inez, and Eugenia & Mildred gave the story historical richness and depth. Through these couples, Watts depicts the ways in which secrecy and lies always "build a closet", albeit in historically particular ways.

As a side note, I especially enjoyed that when Bev tells Wanda, a local, that it was nice talking to her, Wanda replies only "Well."
"Bev had never heard the word well spoken that way - not as an introduction to some other phrase, but as a simple declarative sentence."
My mother was given to using well in just that manner, and could pack a ton of feeling and meaning into that one word. Watts has a keen ear for language and place, and it shows in this, her first novel.

Oh, and I'm willing to bet that Mamaw Needham knows more than she lets on. Have some jam cake, you'uns.