When Ibby Bell"s father dies in a tragic accident in the summer of 1964, her mother deposits Ibby in New Orleans with her eccentric grandmother Fannie, and throws in her father"s urn for good measure. Fannie"s rundown Victorian mansion is like no place Ibby has ever been, and Fannie--who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum every one in a while--is like no one she has every met. Fannie"s black cook, Queenie, has run Fannie"s household since it was Fannie"s household, and her daughter, Dollaby, has big dreams and an even bigger mouth. Between them, Queenie and Dollbaby take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets. For Fannie"s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed doors in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby"s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby"s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that, sometimes, family can be found in...