Queenie's Place

QUEENIE’S PLACE, set in rural North Carolina in the early seventies, is the story of an unusual sisterhood between a thirty-something White woman from California and a fifty-something Black woman raised in the Jim Crow south. From the moment Doreen sees the “Welcome to Klan Country” sign, North Carolina is one culture shock after another. She thinks the women she meets on the military base, where her husband, a helicopter pilot, is now stationed, are the dullest, stuffiest, most stuck-up women she’s ever run across. Frankly, they don’t think much of her either. Then one day, on the way to pick strawberries with her son, BAM, her car tire goes flat right in front of a roadhouse. Inside, Queenie is holding forth at the piano. Besides the music, there’s dancing and the best BBQ in the state. Doreen’s husband arrives and must practically peel her out of the place. Queenie doesn’t expect to see Doreen again, but Doreen comes back and their unusual friendship begins. Then Queenie is accused of bootlegging and prostitution, her place closed. A born crusader, Doreen, accompanied by her reluctant son, quickly dons her armor and saddles up. Nothing goes as planned. The women are arrested for disturbing the peace following a protest rally. The general store in a nearby Black township is burned to the ground. And the Klan pays a midnight call on Queenie.

What readers say about QUEENIE’S PLACE:

“Author Toni Morgan’s expertly-crafted, descriptive, sensory passages brought me right into the setting—I could feel the oppressive humidity, hear the rollicking piano, and taste the barbeque.”

“Throughout, Morgan uses humor to lighten the storyline, while never shying away from the harsh truths of life.”

"The Help meets The Great Santini—the machoism of Marine life mixed in with the oppression of Blacks in the nearby town.”

“Anyone who has read Toni Morgan’s books knows she is a master of observational detail. She is at her best here, shrewdly describing the meeting of Deep South, California, and U.S. military cultures. She always manages to keep the ball of the plot rolling while still taking time to give you real characters, whose dilemmas engage you. In this novel especially she gives each character authenticity, and roots the story in the era without resorting to cliches”.