Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia: A Novel by Mary Helen Stefaniak

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Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis/Review: Gladys Cailiff's life is turned upside down for her family and her little town when Miss Spivey arrives to teach their little one room school. Miss Spivey's forward thinking clashes with many of the Southern Christian ways. Especially her views of the "heathens" from Arabia she enjoys teaching the children about and the way that she feels the "Negros" should be taught from the same books and with the same sort of education as all the white folk in town.
This was a fun story and an eye opener for the prejudice that existed in the U.S. at that time. The KKK were normal people. I always pictured them as evil men who traipsed around and grouchy to everyone but in this story, Stefaniak made me realize that they weren't like that. They were regular people... it was shocking for me. Overall, it was an interesting story that came from Gladys' (a little girl) point of view as she got excited when learning about camels and Arabian princes or genies and magic. A great story for anyone in the mood for a historical fiction. There was some minor profanity.

Author: She is originally from Milwaukee and "grew up in a bi-culture household". She restored a 150 year old inn in Iowa City where she and her husband reside when she is not in Omaha teaching at Creighton University.

Rating: **** Four Stars


Here is a reading by the author if you're interesting in hearing a part of the book.

1 comment:

alecia said...

sounds pretty good!

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