Her Own Place

"Ms. Sanders' writing [is] sweet, genuine, comic, unsentimental but eternally forgiving. . . . Indeed, something to delight in, a fresh wind above the stale cynicism that spoils so much of contemporary literature."—Dallas Morning News

"This story belongs to Mae Lee Barnesand reflects a life punctuated by the births, graduations, weddings and deaths that shape our memories. . . . But this is more than the success story of one indomitable black matriarch. Sanders sets her novel during times of changes, inviting us to speculate on the broader implications of the social realignment brought on by the civil rights movement. . . . Sanders writes in a vernacular she can understand, about a lifestyle she knows intimately. . . . A voice that should appeal to anyone."—Washington Post

"Moves at the gentle, timeless pace of a work by Willa Cather. . . . Her Own Place is about Mae Lee Barnes, who matures from a rural South Carolina teenager, all buckled knees for her high school sweetheart, to an abandoned mother of five whose fierce reserves and constant humor help her family to prosper."—New York Times

"A life story that seems to hum along so simply it takes a while to notice that it resonates as powerfully as an old hymn. . . . Small, sharp truths and day-to-day details add up to a story that's larger than life here—that's the cipher of fine writing."—Kirkus Reviews

"A salute to the extraordinary in ordinary lives and a delightful reading experience."—Library Journal

"Beautiful and beautifully crafted, Sanders brings her story up to the present, along the way enabling readers to savor the changes in Mae Lee and the Southern world around her. That she endures so successfully is part of the triumph of Sanders' book with its finely proclaimed victory over the adversity that all readers will know and identify with."—Columbia (S.C.) State

"Sanders is a master storyteller, and she spins this yarn both seamlessly and effortlessly. . . . With homey, but shimmering, imaginative metaphors, she portrays the small truths and little miracles of everyday life. Mae Lee Barnes, a woman of indomitable spirit, will capture the reader's heart and touch the soul."—Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier