Laura Lane McNeal

"A big-hearted coming-of-age debut set in Civil Rights-era New Orleans--a novel of Southern eccentricity, secrets, and laughter. When Ibby Bell's father dies in a tragic accident in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother, Fannie, and throws in her father's urn for good measure. Fannie's Victorian house is like no place Ibby has ever been--and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum...