This unusually captivating family saga calls out to be filmed - unsurprisingly, as Fannie Flagg also wrote the novel and screenplay of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. An ode to small-town America, there is a unexpected twist in the tale of the ambitious TV interviewer forced to search into the past to discover her mother's identity. Flagg contrasts the wisdom and sincerity of down-home folks with the descent of much of journalism into sensationalism and soundbite. The cast of endearing characters, from Neighbour Dorothy who broadcasts home hints from her front room in the 1940s, to Aunt Elner in the 1970s who can't understand why "poor little old humans . . . aren't as crazy as betsy bugs", makes this an uncliched and humorous story of the resilience of the human spirit.