Miss Julia’s Marvelous Makeover

At the start of bestseller Ross’s comforting, leisurely paced 15th Miss Julia novel set in Abbotsville, N.C. (after 2013’s Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble), husband Sam announces that he plans to run for the state Senate. Miss Julia has no sooner adjusted to that idea when a distant relation in Vidalia, Ga., writes that she’s sending her granddaughter, Trixie, to Miss Julia for the summer to get “spruced up and polished.” A model of decorum, Miss Julia is dismayed to find herself making speeches when Sam is hospitalized in the early days of the political campaign, and even more so when the sullen and disagreeable Trixie, “a not-so-young woman,” starts dating unsuitable men. Ross’s great achievement is the creation of Abbotsville, a small town so ideal that the most violent occurrence is an exhibition of poor manners, like dropping in for a visit without phoning first. [em]Five-city author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. (Apr.) [/em]