Standing Under the Rainbow

Fannie Flagg is true to herself - a little old-fashioned, incredibly charming, and sincerely ironic. "Under the Rainbow" is a novel that gathers many of the characters from the author's other books. In the cozy provincial town of Elmwood Springs, everyone knows each other, but the lives of its residents are known hundreds of kilometers away, all thanks to Neighbor Dorothy - a woman with a smiling voice who runs the town radio and tells the whole country about how Elmwood Springs is doing, where every citizen is special, with their quirks and whims. For example, there's Blind Bird Singer - a girl with a divine voice and courage that any sighted person would envy. Or Bobby - a boy who lives hundreds of lives in his fantasies every day, which doesn't stop him from showing off in reality in ways that leave the whole town speechless. There's also Cecil, the king of the funeral business; and shy Betty Ray, who is destined to become the governor of the state; and the carefree Aunt Elmer; and her proper niece Norma; and many, many others. This book is a true carousel of characters and fates, of laughter and tears, of the incredible and the mundane. But above all, it is a novel about time and about how the world is beautiful in any era - you just need to be able to see the beauty and happiness behind the husk of everyday life. And Fannie Flagg knows how to tell this better than anyone else in the world.