Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books

by Kirsten Miller

the people of Troy

“That’s rule number one in the Ronnie Childers playbook—never turn your nose up at trouble.”

schedule one here in Georgia,

back in the days when neither of them knew that Lindsay was rich and Ronnie was poor, and they couldn’t imagine a day when their paths would no longer run parallel.

Lula never could get enough attention.

But Beverly, now head of the school board, had long been seen as a pillar of the Troy community. Until recently, Lula Dean had been known as the town crank.

Lula had found her calling. Having successfully rebranded herself as a righteous crusader, she got right to work. The

You think it’s a coincidence this book’s named after the devil? He’s been right here in Troy, and he’s opened the door to a whole slew of demons. Anarchists and pedophiles and socialized health care.

Wilma Jean loved her six children, she really did. But she often wondered what in God’s name she’d done to deserve them.

They’d read all the fairy tales about old ladies who poisoned apples and gnawed on little-kid bones. Wilma Jean wondered if the tales had been invented by old ladies who’d already raised their own damn children and just wanted to live the rest of their lives in peace.

I said why not let the girls dress comfortably and send the boys home until they can show self-control?”

“What was the principal’s response?” “He said it’s easier for girls to dress modestly than for boys to behave. And so I told him I wasn’t interested in following rules that make life harder for girls so it can be easier for boys.

functional, too.” Wilma hit a switch and whipped cream sprayed out the top of the cake and fell like snow on the crowd. Some of the family froze in horror, unable to pull their eyes away from the eruption. A few ran for the house to avoid getting stains on their clothes. The ones she’d always liked best stayed put and stuck out their tongues.

Logan was the one who made her squirm. She sensed something desperate about him. Like he was searching for something, but he didn’t know what. Whenever he looked at her, she could imagine him cutting her open to find it.

Half the county was hooked on opioids or meth, but the big story was always crime 150 miles away in Atlanta and the perpetrators were always Black.

When you have everything, the only luxury left is taking things away from others. It was an indulgence that Lula Dean certainly seemed to relish.

As far as he was concerned, if your faith was shaken by foul words or sex scenes, then you must not have had very much to begin with.

“I bet Lula hasn’t read a book in thirty years. She just wants to scare people. She’s figured out that’s how to get their attention.” “Damn. That’s diabolical.” Elijah had spent fourteen years living in the same town as a supervillain, and he’d never even realized it.

The audacity of a man like her ancestor—claiming words like freedom, honor, and dignity when he’d deprived so many people of those very things.

You want to make up for what your ancestor did? Learn everything you can and do your best to lead the way forward.”

Gingrich. I don’t know how she manages to be evil and boring, but damn, if Lula ain’t killing it.”

“The Nazis sure think you’re a Nazi,” Jeb replied. “So?” Mitch demanded. “What am I supposed to do about that? I can’t tell them who to like.”

Gather as much knowledge as you can, because information is power. And choosing how to use it is freedom. The more you know, the freer you will be.”

“But isn’t the whole point that each person chooses the right path in life, instead of being tricked into taking it?” Mara asked. “Why not give your kids the freedom to make their own decisions?”

Whether she was brainwashed or stubborn, Mara couldn’t say for sure.

lula loves libraries! fear god, praise jesus, vote lula!

Lula leading a crusade against dirty books was like Colonel Sanders waging a war against chicken.

They were good people. They’d spent their lives working to give him and Elijah every advantage they could. Their approval meant everything to their sons. But Isaac couldn’t change who he was to appease them.

With the television off, all they’d had to guide them was common sense and good hearts. No one told them to be scared, so they weren’t. No one told them who their enemies were, so they didn’t have any.

Suddenly, the showman seemed to be gone. The man standing at the mic was just an overgrown country boy in overpriced jeans.

the most lethal creatures on earth were young men with a few bad ideas and nothing to lose.

You had to know a person’s political leanings, astrological signs, and pharmaceutical history if you wanted to interpret their “news” correctly.

Before she died, Melody Sykes’s mother begged her to finish college. “Do not make the same mistake I did,” she pleaded with her daughter. “I placed my trust in a man who wasn’t good enough or strong enough to bear the weight. Please promise me that you’ll have the tools to look after yourself if anything ever goes wrong.”

And for the very first time, she understood what her mother had been trying to tell her. Giving a marriage everything you’ve got means one day you could be left with nothing.

She planned to live someplace like San Francisco or New York when she wasn’t traveling to far-flung locations. She’d take lots of lovers and turn down all their proposals. Somehow, she’d find a way to make gobs of money while simultaneously saving the world.

And—most important—whose side would Jesus take?

“Being pretty’s overrated.” “Is that right?” The way Mrs. Wright said it made Nahla wonder if she’d passed some kind of test. “Then what would you rather be?” “A force to be reckoned with.” She’d once heard her father refer to her mother that way. He’d said it with such awe and respect that Nahla had decided right then and there to follow in her mama’s footsteps.

“I think of every bouquet as a little story,” Betsy told her, “and stories are the most powerful things in this world. They can mend broken hearts, bring

But that’s the thing about jokes, Beverly realized. The fact that they’re funny doesn’t make them any less serious. Lindsay’s little prank had started a chain reaction. The books she’d put in that library had opened eyes, granted courage, and exposed terrible crimes. That’s why they were dangerous—why so many people had wanted to hide them. Lindsay had known all along what they could do.

It’s like finding out you were born with a health condition. Maybe you didn’t do anything to deserve it. But if you ignore it, nothing’s going to get better.

The fact that I grew up being told the truth did not make me superior to those children. It made me luckier.