Elmwood Springs

4 primary works

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

by Fannie Flagg

Published 1 September 1998

Sweeping from the gentler confines of late 1940s small town America to the tough side of the New York media circus in the '70s, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! mines golden seams of goodness and gritty determination, prejudice and despair, love and survival, in the story of a young TV interviewer, Dena Nordstrom, whose future looks full of promise, whose present is an emotional mess, and whose past is marked by mystery.

With a cast of unforgettable characters, from the comic masterpiece that is Neighbour Dorothy (broadcasting home tips and good news to the midwest from her own front room) to the monstrosity that is Ira Wallace, TV network head - Fannie Flagg's novel is a funny, constantly surprising novel that keeps you guessing and turing the page right up to the last.

Standing in the Rainbow

by Fannie Flagg

Published 6 August 2002

The time: 1946-2000. The Place: Elmwood Springs, Missouri. Right in the middle of everywhere, which could be anywhere. World War II has ended and the joyous transitions to peace are being - mostly - embraced. Bobby Smith, ten, is the effervescent son of the well-known radio hostess Neighbour Dorothy, who broadcasts every day from her living room, via the tower in her backyard, to an eager, and at times lonely, audience. And meet the Oatman Family Southern Gospel Singers at a pharmaceutical convention in Memphis, where they blow the place away; Hamm Sparks, a super-salesman everyone likes and trusts, who soon sells all of Missouri; and the phenomena known as the Sunset Club, Dinner on the Ground and the Funeral King.

Can't Wait To Get To Heaven

by Fannie Flagg

Published 27 June 2006

Combining her trademark charm with unabashed emotion and side-splitting hilarity, Fannie Flagg takes readers back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where the most unlikely and surprising experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ponder the age-old question: Why are we here? Life is the strangest thing. One minute, Mrs Elner Shimfissle is up in her tree, picking figs to make jam, and the next thing she knows, she is off on an adventure she never dreamed of, running into people she never in a million years expected to meet, including Neighbor Dorothy (from Standing in the Rainbow) and her husband in the unlikeliest of places. Meanwhile, back home, Elner's nervous, high-strung niece Norma faints and ends up in bed with a cold towel on her head; Elner's neighbor Verbena rushes immediately to the Bible; her truck driver friend, Luther Griggs, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch - and the entire town is thrown out of kilter and left wondering, "What is life all about, anyway?" Except for Tot Whooten, who owns Tot's Tell It Like It Is Beauty Shop. Her main concern is that the end of the world might come before she can collect her social security.
In this comedy-mystery, those near and dear to Elner discover something wonderful: Heaven is actually right here, right now, with people you love, neighbours you help, friendships you keep. A plea for honest doubt and humanity in an over-certain world, "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" is proof once more that Fannie Flagg "was put on this earth to write", spinning tales as sweet and refreshing as lemonade on a summer day, with a little extra kick thrown in.

The Whole Town's Talking

by Fannie Flagg

Published 29 November 2016

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is at her superb best in this fun-loving, moving novel about what it means to be truly alive.

WINNER OF THE SOUTHERN BOOK PRIZE 

Elmwood Springs, Missouri, is a small town like any other, but something strange is happening at the cemetery. Still Meadows, as it’s called, is anything but still. Original, profound, The Whole Town’s Talking, a novel in the tradition of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Flagg’s own Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven, tells the story of Lordor Nordstrom, his Swedish mail-order bride, Katrina, and their neighbors and descendants as they live, love, die, and carry on in mysterious and surprising ways.

Lordor Nordstrom created, in his wisdom, not only a lively town and a prosperous legacy for himself but also a beautiful final resting place for his family, friends, and neighbors yet to come. “Resting place” turns out to be a bit of a misnomer, however. Odd things begin to happen, and it starts the whole town talking.

With her wild imagination, great storytelling, and deep understanding of folly and the human heart, the beloved Fannie Flagg tells an unforgettable story of life, afterlife, and the remarkable goings-on of ordinary people. In The Whole Town’s Talking, she reminds us that community is vital, life is a gift, and love never dies.

Praise for The Whole Town’s Talking

“A witty multigenerational saga . . . [Fannie] Flagg’s down-home wisdom, her affable humor and her long view of life offer a pleasant respite in nerve-jangling times.”—People
 
“Fannie Flagg at her best.”—The Florida Times-Union
 
“If there’s one thing Fannie Flagg can do better than anybody else, it’s tell a story, and she outdoes herself in The Whole Town’s Talking. . . . Brilliant . . . equally on the level as her famous Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.”—The Newport Plain Talk
 
“Delightful.”—The Washington Post
 
“A ringing affirmation of love, community and life itself.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch