Jealous-Hearted Me: And Other Stories - Softcover

Packer, Nancy Huddleston

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880284200 ISBN 13: 9781880284209

Publisher: Daniel & Daniel Pub, 1997

Synopsis

Stories look at life in the modern South, family ties, aging, greed, sibling rivalry, and companionship

About this title

From the Publisher:

THE STORY OF AN ALABAMA FAMILY, TOLD IN NANCY HUDDLESTON PACKER'S FAMILY OF STORIES

The cover of Nancy Huddleston Packer's new book, Jealous-Hearted Me, calls it a collection of stories. And that's the truth: this book is made up of nine separate stories, skillfully told by a distinguished writer best known for her short fiction. Each of these stories can stand alone, and in fact many of them have been published individually in literary quarterlies.

What's also true is that these stories work together to form a cohesive overall story, making Jealous-Hearted Me like a novel. Set in contemporary Montgomery, Alabama, they all concern the same family of characters, and they're all told in the voice of Jean, a middle-aged woman for whom family is a major concern. And close to the center of each of the stories is Jean's stubborn mother, Clara Blaine, otherwise known as Momma. In each story, it is Momma's persistent meddling that brings a flash of truth to her family members' lives and forces them to change, for the better, or for the worse.

In addition to a common cast of characters, the stories have a common style, which is hilarious. And like the best funny stories, these stories are about subjects heart-breaking and dangerous: greed, midlife restlessness, sibling rivalry, aging, and misplaced pride. Jealous-Hearted Me is one of those rare books that is both very comic and very serious, succeeding equally in both directions.

Nancy Huddleston Packer grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. She was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University, after which she became a Professor of English. When she retired from Stanford in 1993 she had been Director of the Creative Writing Progam for four years.

Packer's stories have appeared in numerous journals, including Harper's, Kenyon Review, Yale Review, Southwest Review, Virginia Quarterly, Southern Review, Epoch, and Sewanee Review. Her stories have won O. Henry Awards and have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories. This is her sixth published book.

From the Back Cover:

"When Momma cant think of anything to say, she says it to me." Jean and her husband, Lloyd, live a nice, simple, married life in Montgomery, Alabama, that will be simple no more once Momma, Jean's cantankerous, quick-talking, widowed mother, comes to live with them. As affectionate as she is opinionated, Momma has plenty of advice for everyone, although she's always got an extra serving for Jean. What happens when Momma finally meets her match makes for a work of fiction that is hilarious and touching. Jealous-Hearted Me is Nancy Huddleston Packer's generous-hearted look at old family ties in the new South. An exploration of such dangerous territory as aging, greed, and sibling rivalry between people who are old enough to know better, this book is as funny and entertaining as Momma herself, and a lot wiser.

About this edition

• Publisher: Daniel & Daniel Pub
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1880284200
• ISBN 13: 9781880284209
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 142