Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man - Fanny Flagg

When Daisy Fay and her parents move to Shell Beach, Mississippi, she starts a diary, and you'll find out lots of things about Daisy Fay's family, her Father's drinking, her Mother's disappointment in him, and Daisy Fay's life.  She's eleven, and Flagg has captured the mind of an eleven year old so well.  She's funny.  She's a tomboy.  She hates maths, and why shouldn't she?!  Her Father has raised money to buy a half share in a fast food and drink establishment on the beach, and he has loads of ideas about making money down there in the South.  It's no surprise that the ice cream freezer is soon full of road kill and the like, because one of those schemes involves taxidermy from a "teach yourself" course.  And no, it wasn't a success!

She's a brave kid, always the optimist. It's not too long, after many rows and makeups, that her Mother leaves, and Daisy Fay becomes even more independent.  Her father drinks even more, invites "women friends" to stay the night and at the end of the first year the business has made a loss.  Her life is described as though she was talking to you, a friend she had just met, and in the most part you will laugh out load (a lot!).  But you will also have a great deal of sympathy for this tomboy who does not quite fit anywhere with  her specs and chipped tooth, and there is a nice balance of pathos too.

Along the way she looses her Mother, her dog, eventually the cat, but she makes some really good friends, and a couple of enemies too, and by the time the book ends she is eigheen and life has a surprise in store for Daisy Fay. I have enjoyed every one of Fannie Flagg's books and this is no exception.

Recommended except for this new cover..... she's a tomboy!  Jeans or shorts and a Tshirt - under no circumstances a cute gingham dress with puffy sleeves and neat hair.