Greetings from nowhere

Aggie isn't expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn't know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby's new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad's plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta's birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad in such a hurry and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life to replace the one that was fractured when Willow's mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

From an author long recognized for her true Southern voice and heartfelt characters, Greetings from Nowhere , with its four intertwining stories, brings Barbara O'Connor's work to a new level of sophistication.

This title has Common Core connections.

From Greetings from Nowhere Willow watched from the front seat of the truck as her father glanced around the weed-filled parking lot. Squinted out at the cracked, empty swimming pool. Frowned over at the faded, peeling sign. "I know it ain't much to look at now," Aggie said. "But you shoulda seen it in its heyday." She gestured with her skinny arm, making the sweater flop down over her hand. "This whole parking lot was filled to overflowing. Cars and kids and all. Guests in every room every night. Well, almost every night . . . at least in the summer . . . And--" "Mrs. Duncan, I--" "Aggie," she said. "Please. Call me Aggie." She squinted over at the pickup truck where Willow sat. Willow slumped down in the seat. "Is that your girl?" Aggie said. "Yes," her father said. "That's Willow." "Willow!" Aggie grinned. "Well, what a fine name!" She waved toward the truck. "Hello, Willow," she called. Willow waved back. A tiny little wave. "There haven't been kids around here for the longest time," Aggie said. "I just love kids," she added. Willow slumped down a little farther and pretended like she didn't see her father motioning for her to get out of the truck. She didn't want to get out of the truck. She wanted to go home. Back to the little brick house with the screened porch. Her father motioned again and said, "Please come here, Willow," in that voice Willow hated. So Willow got out of the truck and stood beside her father, looking down at her pink plastic sandals. "I figured we should make arrangements for the inspection," Willow's father said to Aggie. "And get the rest of the paperwork done and all." Aggie's hand fluttered up to her glasses, smoothed her hair, pushed at the sleeve of her sweater. "Um, well, okay." The corners of her mouth twitched. "But there's no hurry, right? I mean, you wanna be sure and all, and I . . ." Willow studied Aggie's face. She couldn't put a name to what she saw there, but she knew that Aggie didn't want to sell this motel. She looked around her at the ramshackle place and wondered why. Why would anyone want to keep an awful old place like this? Excerpted from Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.