The Kudzu Queen

""A handsome devil pays a call to a community in North Carolina, and in this funny and moving novel by Mimi Herman, we see the result. The Kudzu Queen is about beauty, and familial love, and what we may owe to our friends and neighbors. This novel has both sweetness and suspense, and its cast of characters will stay in your memory long after you have closed this wonderful book."" --Charles Baxter, PEN/Malamud Award winner and author of The Sun Collective ""Funny, sad, and tender... Mimi Herman has written a novel that possesses a true and hard won understanding of the South."" --David Sedaris, author of Happy-Go-Lucky ""What a wonderful novel! Mimi Herman brings us a charming charlatan, a farming community at a major turning point, and the most appealing young heroine since Scout."" --Lee Smith, Southern Book Critics Circle Award winner and New York Times best-selling author of The Last Girls ""The Kudzu Queen, Mimi Herman's lively novel, chronicles the history of the prolific Southern vine while also introducing the wonderful character, Mattie Watson and her family and community. People often joke about kudzu climbing and concealing everything, but in Mimi Herman's capable storytelling, it is just the opposite; she uncovers all that divides humans as well as what binds them together."" --Jill McCorkle, John Dos Passos Prize winner and New York Times best-selling author of Life After Life