In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla
Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s
Mississippi home. Starla hasn’t seen her momma since she was
three—that’s when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous
singer. Starla’s daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so
Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of
“Lord, give me strength,” is the nearest thing to family
Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her
sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of
July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to
send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the
outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. . . . If she can
get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she
promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will
come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole
and perfect. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a
ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white
baby. The trio embarks on a road trip that will change
Starla’s life forever. She sees for the first time life as
it really is—as she reaches for a dream of how it could one
day be.
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