Hardback with dust jacket, excellent condition, bought at a charity book sale. From the dust jacket flap:

"Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! is the funny serious, and compelling new novel by Fannie Flagg, author of the beloved Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (and prize winning co-writer of the classic movie).

Once again, Flagg's humor and respect and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: A brainy beautiful and ambitious rising star of the 1970's television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications and her past marked by mystery."

This was a fun and fast read, in spite of the fact it's a big fat book. Flagg writes in short chapters and punchy prose. The author does a great job of pealing the onion of the story. It starts with pretty normal people in small town America and a cousin - Dena, the "Baby Girl" of the title - who is a hotshot reporter in New York. Flagg bounces back and forth in time slowly unfolding Dena's murky history as we realize the investigative reporter has never examined the mysteries in her own life: her father, dead in WWII before she was born; her mother's furtive life moving them from place to place and finally disappearing. The ending is surprising and satisfying. She also delivers a blistering critique of network news and her usual paean to small town living. Highly recommend this one.

It's going onto my husband's TBR pile.

Controlled release to my sister hopiej.