Songbirds and Stray Dogs by Meagan Lucas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Songbirds and Stray Dogs is a novel of great characters. We’re immediately on the side of Jolene. We know that her poorly chosen lover and her shallowly religious aunt are going to reject her long before she knows, and yet we hope and stick with her. And she proves herself worth sticking with from beginning to end.

We’re immediately on the side of Chuck as well, who shows up in the second section of the novel. He’s in over his head in all kinds of ways–his past, his family, etc. But in spite of his past and present troubles with Jackson and his henchmen, he’s a good man–a very well drawn character. He’s subject to more than his share of violence, at the hands of wicked men and lost or near-lost women.

Surrounding these two–from the opening pages to the closing–are the good, the bad, and the ugly: the people of Beaufort, Aunt Rachel, lawyer Webb, Ruby, Jackson, Roy, that really big guy, Joe, the good police sergeant, the bad deputy, Dottie, Cora, Lulu, Cash, and others.

Meagan Lucas’s Songbirds and Stray Dogs tells an energetic and affecting story, from its opening secret to its final conflagration.



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