Milam truly enjoyed writing this novel. It was as if Ociee Nash Whitman, a beautiful Victorian lady, were sitting next to her as she describes crashing her prized Hupmobile. She whispers details of being one of the first women in Memphis to endure getting a permanent wave. The reader can almost feel Ociee's apprehension as she is hooked up to wires suspended from the high ceiling in her beauty salon. We get to know Ociee as a young girl in love with her Charlie, a devoted mother, a career woman, and, along the way, a fun-loving and creative grandmother. In Milam's first book, "A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street," Ociee Nash touched readers with her optimism and strength. She provided a glimpse into the struggles and successes of a resilient nine-year-old girl, who had lost her mother in a measles epidemic in 1897. This new story allows Ociee to grow into a fashionable trendsetter in Memphis, Tennessee. Along the way, there are glimpses into actual historic events along with "fly-on-the-wall" interactions with the novel's real-life characters. Ociee Nash Whitman invites the reader to come along for her journey. The little farm girl turned student in a prestigious girls' school, turned Victorian wife and mother, turned career woman manages to triumph time after time. Ociee wants people to know how things turned out, or, as she would insist, "I'm doing perfectly fine."
