This is a wonderful novel about a man who is sleeping through life, and then one day a hurricane hits. And the man decides that he doesn't really like the practice of law anymore, so he's going to do something about that. And the man's been fantasizing about women his entire life, and so now he's going to do something about that, too. A really remarkable book!

One thing that's interesting about Humphreys work is that she focuses so strongly on one character. In this book we are privy to all of Rob's thoughts--and he has a lot of them!--but none of the other characters, and so they remain mysterious, both to us and to Rob. We're not sure why they do things.

The hurricane, which one character calls an "act of God," strongly suggests that there are not only people, but forces Rob does not understand, and will never understand, let alone control.

One imagines that the characters who interact with Rob in the book suspect that he is in the midst of a self-destructive part of his life--again, the hurricane metaphor--and yet we, who are privy to all his thoughts, realize that he is at his most alive, and in his center he is totally calm.

Humphreys will get compared to Conroy a lot, as they are both from Charleston and write "Southern," but I think she is the more subtle of the two. Her characters are not as wounded (or their wounds are more hidden). Also Conroy's work is more extroverted, whereas Humphreys' work is more internal, and suggests deeper ideas, or not ideas so much as a hint of an idea. I am drawn to rereading this particular work, as the underlying hints are just as interesting as Humphreys' use of language. Fireman's Fair is one of my favorite books, a truly outstanding work of art.

I read the Fireman's Fair for the first time seven years ago. This is one of those novels whose characters are so well fleshed-out that you feel as if you know them. I have read the novel, in full, at least three times -- and have opened it up and re-read favorite sections frequently, when I feel like picking up with Rob Wyatt and Billie Poe again.

Josephine Humphries, PLEASE write more novels like this!

Josephine Humphrey's paints an acurate picture of life in Charleston and the surrounding Lowcountry of S.C. I would suggest this book to anyone who lives in or dreams of the sleepy S.C. coast. The characters are true to the region and the story. This book stirs those crazy dreams of leaving everything behind to start new. Humphreys is a welcomed breath of fresh air to S.C. authors shadowed by Conroy. I wish her the best and await her future work.

Susan Sully's book revived many delightful memories of my recent visit to Charleston. Her evocative prose paired with the beautiful photographs made as much of an impression on me as seeing Charleston's gracious architecture in person. It's not often that such a pretty book is also so well written, but Sully' elegant, beautifully crafted sentences do justice to the photos and the grand old homes themselves. After reading her book I wanted to book a flight back for another visit!

Susan Sully's Charleston Style splendidly captures the unique beauty of my city. Sully's writing is gorgeous, lush and evocative as many of the homes she shows us. Her thorough research is obvious; then she takes the facts and, with words, weaves a beautifiul gossamer fabric representing one ofAmerica's most beloved cities. As a Charlestonian, I was introduced to places I never knew existed. The detailed photographs, artistic and architectural, complement the text. I bought numerous copies to give to friends who have visited Charleston in reality or in their dreams.

Just named one of the ten best books of 1999 about South Carolina by "The Nation," this winner rises above the usual book of stunning photography in the quality of Sully's writing. Her thoughtful and incisive reflections upon a complex city are rendered in delightful, sensual, intelligent prose. All this is compellingly presented in a classic coffee-table stand-out!

Ruthie Bolton, what a brave, brave woman. What a story, what a book. The harshness of this story makes one feel that they are in the south of the early 1900's or the latest 1940's, but to find out that this is a contemporary tale, that Ms. Bolton is maybe in her late 30's only makes one stop and reconsider and wonder. How? How did these things happen to these girls? Abandoned to the care of her Grandmother and Stepgrandfather, by a mother who was herself beaten and abused, Ruthie Bolton is a witness and a victim to abuse. At an early age she along with her young and equally helpless aunts watched her Stepgrandfather, savagely beat his wife to death. The beatings and the years of mental torture that followed left Ruthie twisted and angry. Drugs, sex, alcohol, nothing but the love of a family can save Ruthie -- and she finds it, along with a second husband. Ruthie grows through or in spite of her pain and even comes to grips with her abusive Stegrandfather. This story, this life, is truly inspiring. You go Gal!

From the moment I picked up the book, I could scarcely tolerate even minor interruptions while I read it from cover to cover within the span of four hours! Since then, I have purchased the book for several female friends, with instructions that it must be passed on to other favorite sisters as a special treat. Contained within its pages are accurate (and timely) examples of love, greed, envy, lust, power, and worship of the money god. This book was so true-to-life, I felt I knew each character personally. I urge women everywhere to experience the rollercoaster ride through the life of Ruthie Bolton, because it will be an experience they'll never forget!

I truly enjoyed this book! I am a college student, and I hardly EVER get a time to do some recreational reading, and so when I went into a women and cheldren's bookstore, I glanced the shelves, and grabbed a book with the simplest title, "Gal". I cracked it open, and literally read it nonstop in one day. It was truly remarkably how Mrs. Bolton remembered all the events in her life, and was able to put it on paper with such frankness and honest detail. I mean, to speak of these events, up until the day she writes the book--remembering her estranged mother, relationships with relatives and men, and just riding that mental roller coaster of good times and bad times--shows courage, strength, and hope. She brought us through the times and the eras, through the changes and mindsets of life, especially in the South. All through the viewpoint of one woman. I also like the way the author seemd like an aunt or a neighbor, telling a story...not trying to use big words, not paying attention to grammar, but writing it in her style, the way she know how to get it on paper. This added flavor and personalization in a way that autobiographies rarely do. She told it like it was. Not sugar coated--when it hurt, it hurt, when she messed up, we felt her sadness, when she succeeded, we felt her joy. She was "Ruthie". And now we all know a piece of "Ruthie"...or if you prefer, "Gal". I bought this book brand-spanking new in October, and since then, I have passed this on to my mother, sister, and EVERY female friend I have. Now, it's all dog-eared and ragged, and I STILL highly recommend this for every woman pre-teen to adult, to read this and truly grasp the messages and the expereince within. I guess that's my two cents. Feel free to comment. ;)

Review by Jillian Abbott

Nowhere Else On Earth by Josephine Humphreys is an historical novel with equal emphasis on history and fiction.
In terms of history, the book stays close to known facts. But Humphreys doesn't stop there. In inventing a first person memoir, she creates a subjective, indeed, feminine, history. "Mine is only a single and limited testimony, one woman's version. . ."
There is mischief in her narrator, the curious Rhoda Strong. She is game even to examine and question the true nature of history, racial prejudice and scapegoating, all described in such a way as to render today's incidences of ethnic violence comprehensible: ". . . it wasn't an English that sliced him . . . [it was] his own neighbor! . . . We were neighbor against neighbor."
In fictional terms the characters and events are portrayed with grace, subtly, and depth. Gaps in the story are filled by citing period newspapers. Yet there is an irony here as when, after drawing considerably from the press, Rhoda points out the divergence between the life she actually leads and the one portrayed by the media.
But in creating this personal history, Humphreys is again playing with us. What is the line between the personal and the political?
In the Prologue, supposedly written on November 3, 1890, the feisty and wise Rhoda sets out her intentions and hopes for her narrative and outlines her view on the nature of history, stating that nobody will ever be able to render the story of Scuffletown complete and objective, "just as a soldier can never describe a whole battle - only his piece of it . . ."
In choosing the words, "us and our times" to refer to her story, Humphreys is telling us this is a political work, as much about the society that denied the Scuffletown Indians justice, as it is about one particular Indian woman.
Rhoda is a Lowrie by blood and marriage, and "the Lowries are Indians. The whole place is Indian. And that's the answer to who we are."
But is it? Dr. McCabe, a member of the Scottish Confederate overclass, isn't so sure. He studies Rhoda and her people, measures their heads, and invasively probes their origins. By the second half of the book McCabe is sure there is more to the Lowries than anyone suspects.
As the true origin of the Scuffletown Indians dawns on McCabe, the Civil War is almost over. It is a desperate lawless time. To the Scottish Confederates, the source of their defeat, and all that has gone wrong in their lives, is clear. Their demise is not the result of Union soldiers or their own bad ideas; rather, it is the Lowries and Scuffletown who are responsible.
Again Humphreys uses subjective truth to make her point. McTeer, the brutal Deputy Sheriff and a leader of lynch mobs, spells out why the Lowries are guilty, and even how they differ from respectable white folks: "The noble morals is bred out. Your makeup is what they call bestial . . ."
Using simple prose Humphreys evokes the times in hauntingly powerful images. As the Civil War drags towards its end, and as the defensive gang formed by Rhoda's husband, Henry, nearly matches the Confederate whites in brutality, Scuffletown can't even manage to fill its belly. The inhabitants have neither food nor money, which hardly matters because the stores have no food to sell. Desperation pervades: "There was gunfire every night, everywhere, and just about every farmer's watch dog was shot. Some were eaten."
Yet despite the harsh times, Rhoda is a woman with a great capacity for love, and it is her love for Scuffletown and its people that motivates her. After all, for Rhoda, there is, Nowhere Else On Earth.

In 1864 Scuffletown, many mixed-breed descendants of the native Lumbee Indian Tribe laboriously toil at the turpentine business. The group is extremely poor but work hard to help their families survive. Living nearby are wealthy and powerful Scottish plantation owners who still own black slaves. As the Civil War winds down, the residents of Scuffletown struggle with the Home Guard that conscripts their young males into building for the Confederacy. The Union soldiers are as ugly to town residents. The townsfolk want the war to go away so they can move on with their lives.

For defying the Confederacy, local citizen Henry Lowrie and some other men hide in the nearby swamps to escape his fellow Carolinians wrath. Eventually, Henry turns to robbery to survive and ultimately is accused of murder. As Henry makes love with teenager Rhoda Strong, his gentle father is hung as retribution for Henry's actions. He seeks revenge, but finds time to marry his beloved Rhoda before fleeing from the area during Reconstruction.

NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH is an incredible accomplishment that showcases the talent of Josephine Humphreys. Rhoda narrates the story line as she looks back over the years to the havoc caused by the Civil War and the Reconstruction on her indigent people. The characters are fully developed especially the interrelationships in which race rules even amidst the Northern Army. The insightful plot provides a unique look at the Civil War that allows readers to grasp the torment yet valor of a small group under siege from all sides. Ms. Humphreys uses historical facts to bring to life a People during an era when the rights of a small minority are trampled.

Harriet Klausner

Josephine Humphreys wrote Nowhere Else on Earth in a trimmed down and concise style of writing suited to a powerful story of sparse times. Her characters are true to history yet fleshed out by Ms. Humphreys' vivid reconstruction. The book inspired me to research Henry Berry Lowrie and the Lumbee Indians, something I knew virtually nothing about. I read in the Atlanta paper that she waited decades to write this book; it was worth the wait.

Rich in Love is a book that any American teenager can relate to. I am a 17-year-old girl and completely understand some of the feelings the main character, Lucille, has. Like most high school students, she has to deal with so many obstacles in her life. But it is Lucille's idea of love that gives her the most trouble. She does not know how to deal with all of the love she has to give. I think that this is a great book for people my age because we are beginning to deal with first loves and don't really know how to handle it. I enjoy how the book gave me different views on love. I was able to learn the importance of love related to my life. I usually do not enjoy many books but this one really kept my attention. I think it is a great read for anyone with a lot of love.

I was asigned to read this book in my English class, and most of the books have trouble finishing the books. I had no problems finishing the book Rich in Love. I like reading a book that gave me a different perspective on a teenage life. Most people write about the normal teenage life, but not Josehpine Humphreys. She draws you into this book and you do not want to put it down. I liked how she turned the role of parents and teenagers on the characters Lucille and Warren. Lucille the daughter takes on the role of the care giver when her mom leaves and her dad needs someone to take care of him. I recommend this book. It give you a whole new perspective on what some peoples lives are like.

The novel Rich in Love by Josephine Humphreys is a great book filled with many answers to the mysterious feelings of growing adolescents. The character Lucille encompasses the essence of being an adolescent when dealing with the crises of her life. With mood swings, unexplained forceful reactions, and raging hormones, it's almost as if teenagers are reading a book about their own life. Most notable in the book is Lucille's view on love and how it should be handled. She has love for everything, but her true, secret love is Billy McQueen. Although she has had no physical pleasure with Billy, Lucille loves everything about him with every inch of her body. She appreciates all that he does, and notices several qualities which remain hidden to others. The reader watches as Lucille's love grows, and the reader is informed of all the feelings that she has. Lucille's love soon reaches the breaking point and evenually Billy seems to fall victim to its grasp. The result is adultery. This catches the reader off guard with just the thought of the age differential between the two. However, this incident brings Lucille into a new reality or a coming of age, where she realizes that she will never be with Billy. She knows that she has experienced love to its fullest and is secure enough and mature enough now, to handle the real world.

I read constantly and seldom have I encountered a more repellent group of characters. I had to read the entire book for a book club (or I would have tossed it away after 50 pages), and found myself hoping for a plague, a nuclear holocaust, anything to remove such repulsive people. Vain, apathetic, stupid, cruel, selfish...it's difficult to care about a book when you despise ALMOST all of the characters. Even Iris had her moments of cruelty. I wonder why the author created them and hope they're not based on real people. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

i loved this book, especially the characterization of Alice. She makes me feel normal, with her strange outbursts and feelings. She's a woman who goes by omens, including what's carved by strangers' fingernails on a frozen package of chicken. She strangely salivates as she picks at her daughter's head for scalp buildup. This isn't all what the story's about, but i just couldn't put the book down. Josephine makes each of the three characters a star for one chapter, so you can really get inside their heads and receive information that the other characters don't know. It's about hope and despair and human relationships, the darkness of marriage and the light at the end of it. I loved how Alice follows Claire around, almost stalking her that way, like the wife does with the other woman. i like how she smokes just as it gets dark, when she feels the most despair. i really related to alice. i think josephine is a very gifted writer.