As America plunges into the Great Depression, Marthanne Hendrix finds herself in rural Vidalia, Georgia, with no memory of how she got there.
As neighbors call her Oma, Marthanne is haunted by memories of another life –and another self. With the help of Comfort, a domestic worker living with tremendous loss, Marthanne discovers Oma is another distinct personality inhabiting her body. In a time when mental illness is taboo, Marthanne and Oma’s simple, small-town life bursts large with complexity and danger.
With Vidalia gossip running rampant, Marthanne and Oma confront their greatest fear: commitment to an insane asylum. Only by relying on Comfort’s kindness can they navigate an uncertain future. Friendship becomes sanctuary, and the quest for ordinary life leads to an extraordinary bond.
Resources
More information about Vidalia onions and Georgia Agriculture:
Georgia Grown Vidalia Onions, produced by Georgia Grown TV, YouTube, October 27, 2105, https://youtu.be/pGjPjrfsRW8
Spirits of the Pines, produced by Valdosta State University Archive and Special Collections, YouTube, April 30, 2015. https://youtu.be/vf1LSVP17sk
Carter, Jimmy. An Hour Before Daylight. New York: Simon and Schuster. 2001.
Personal Accounts of Dissociative Identities:
Oxnam, Robert B. A Fractured Mind: My life with Multiple Personality Disorder. New York: Hyperion, 2005.
Phillips, Jane. The Magic Daughter. New York: Viking, 1995.
Sizemore, Christine Costner and Elen Sain Pittillo. I’m Eve. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.
Sizemore, Christine Costner. A Mind of My Own. New York: William Morrow, 1989.
Walker, Herschel. Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder. New York: Touchstone, 2009.