{"product_id":"where-the-heart-is-by-billie-letts-1623w","title":"Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts","description":"\u003cp\u003eA down on her luck pregnant teen finds herself living in a shopping center in this Oprah's Book Club selection that inspired the film starring Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman.  Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change. But Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures in this small Southwest town-a group of down-to-earth, deeply caring people willing to help a homeless, jobless girl.   From Bible-thumping blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband to eccentric librarian Forney Hull, they are about to take her-and you, too-on a moving, funny, and unforgettable journey.  Editorial Reviews  This Oprah pick is the hilarious tale of teenager Novalee Nation, who sets out for a new life in California but finds herself stranded and pregnant in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Oklahoma. The eccentric inhabitants of the town -- including Sam Walton, the late owner of Wal-Mart -- pitch in to take care of Novalee in their own unusual ways. Read by Susie Breck.   - bn.com  Letts's debut novel concerns a pregnant teenage girl who finds a new life among the quirky inhabitants of a small town in Oklahoma. - Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly  Novalee Nation, 17 and pregnant, finds herself stranded outside a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with $7.77 in her pocket and no one to turn to for help. This is an unlikely beginning for a humorous and hopeful novel, but that is just what this is. As she sits outside the store taking stock of her situation, plucky Novalee meets several of the town's more unusual inhabitants: Sister Husband, who presents her with a shop-worn welcome-wagon basket; black photographer Moses Whitecotton, who conveys to her the importance of a name for her unborn child; and Indian Benny Goodluck, who gives her a buckeye tree for good luck. These and other Sequoyah citizens rally around Novalee when she has her baby on the floor of Wal-Mart, and form the basis for this most enjoyable novel. -- Pamela B. Rearden, Centreville Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA - School Library Journal  The tribulations of 17-year-old Novalee Nation, daughter of the Tennessee trailer parks, make up a surprisingly long, none-too-subtle tale.  The story opens with pregnant Novalee, abandoned by boyfriend Willie Jack Pickens, living in a small, dusty Oklahoma town's Wal-Mart. After she is discovered writhing in labor and rushed to the hospital, Sam Walton (Wal-Mart's late, billionaire owner) offers her a job. Conveniently, her housing dilemma is solved, too, when she moves in with the local eccentric with a heart-of-gold. The rest of the book (300-plus pages) follows the next five years in the lives of Novalee and her daughter. We meet more idiosyncratic yet lovable characters and learn the fate of Willie Jack. - Kathleen Hughes  The life and friends of Novalee Nation, a 17-year-old from Tennessee who lives in a WalMart in Oklahoma until she gives birth in the store, provide a delightful tale handled expertly by Breck. From the baby talk and child humor of Americus Nation (the WalMart baby) to the drunken confusion of her father, Willie Jack, this reader concocts images for a broad cast of both hateful and endearing characters. Novalee survives by seeing the goodness in everyone she meets; Breck excels by seeing the soul behind every scene in this perfectly read novel. J.E.G. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award AudioFile, Portland, Maine - MAR 96 - AudioFile\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Express","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41845140553802,"sku":"1623w","price":8.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/9101\/8826\/files\/1623w.jpg?v=1764527179","url":"https:\/\/www.bookexpress.nz\/products\/where-the-heart-is-by-billie-letts-1623w","provider":"Book Express","version":"1.0","type":"link"}