Madonna Ball

Memories of a Mud Bee: a Novel Madonna Ball

The Williams family is in mourning. It's been almost ten years since the accident, but healing is slow, especially for a family whose creed is based on the belief that,"The past is in the past and that's where it should stay." Nobody in the Williams family talks about death or the fact that Dad is an alcoholic or that mom is just too tired and sad to raise her other eight children. When we first meet eight-year-old Suzanne, she is alone, daydreaming in her next-door neighbor's yard. It is there, sitting next to the Peterson's fence or on the floor of her bedroom closet, that she feels the most safe. Safe to fantasize about a world in which she would like to live. In her ideal world, dads don't drink, moms are attentive and brothers don't die. When a young hippie couple move into the neighbor's upstairs apartment, a relationship quickly develops between Suzanne and the couple. This friendship sparks a desire within Suzanne to have a real relationship with her own family. In order for this dream to become a reality, Suzanne must seek answers to questions that most members of her family have been trying to avoid for years. Set during the 1970s in an industrial suburb of Detroit, this is a story of hope, forgiveness, healing and friendship.