Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County

Praise for Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County:
“Hearth’s sound writing and wit create a story featuring a wealth of eccentric characters.”

“Radiating southern grace and charm in the manner of Fannie Flagg and Mary Kay Andrews, Hearth’s uplifting novel, a sequel to Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society (2012), is a story of how several very different women learn to navigate the shifting mores and niceties of southern society on their own terms.”

"With this follow-up novel about the colorful women of Collier County, Florida, Amy Hill Hearth has proven herself to be one of the most talented fiction writers on shelves today. Her characters are developed with such authenticity, readers are reluctant to leave the page, and her sensory details pull us straight from reality into the lush swamp lands and southern communities that never fail to thrill us. Bravo for yet another masterpiece by Hearth, whose works are about as close to perfection as any I’ve ever read.Funny. Charming. Inspiring. And downright delightful. This is a story that’s sure to please."

"Amy Hill Hearth delivers another bighearted story filled with small town flair. Lovers of quirky Southern characters will want to move to Collier County and settle in for this delightful ride!"

"This is not only a delightful diversion, but also a lively and wise deliberation on the dynamics of friendship, change, and self-realization, not to mention a charming representation of 1960s cultural history."

“Hearth has a deft way with dialogue, capturing Southern rhythms subtly without resorting to clumsy dialect writing. She also finds the comedy (and occasionally the danger)in gossip, that power source of small-town society. Judging by Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County, Naples was a lot sweeter, and a lot more fun, back in 1963.”

"They’re back! Dora Witherspoon, Miss Dreamsville, and the gang. So rejoice—Amy Hill Hearth his written another beauty aimed right at your funny bone and your heart."

"The stories in Miss Dreamsville trade in serious and provocative issues, and the misfit characters within are authentic and true…a vivid, vibrant plot in a journalist’s efficient prose."

"In the mid-1960s, change comes slowly to Naples, Florida -- a small, Gulf Coast town on the edge of the Everglades. Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County is Amy Hill Hearth's latest episode about a book club composed of Naples' dreamers and misfits who see a better future but want to hold on to their slower, small-town way of life. Miss Dreamsville is an antic and heartfelt romp through family secrets and land developers' schemes, funny and warmhearted and a pleasure to read."

“The memorable members of the the Collier County Women's Literary Society are back together again in Amy Hill Hearth's warm and satisfying sequel. Facing new challenges in rural Florida, 1964, these friends continue to help each other, and their community, as development threatens their natural world and family secrets are confronted.”

Praise for Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society:
"This first novel is a sweet story of female bonding and southern grit that will remind readers of Fannie Flagg."

"Amy Hill Hearth's first novel is a charming and funny snapshot of life in a tiny Florida town in 1962. It's also a sweet-tart reminder that those good old days weren't so good for everybody."

“Segregation, feminism, gays coming out, interracial dating, it’s all in there, written as it happened in small towns everywhere. And wisdom; you could learn a lot about life from reading this book. Most of all, be daring, be friends, be true to yourself. By the end, I cried and I must say, I wouldn’t mind hearing more about each of the richly painted characters.”

Miss Dreamsville‘s cast of characters includes a postmistress, a librarian, a convicted murderer, a northern transplant, a lone African-American girl, and an even lonelier gay man, among others. Set in Naples in the early 1960s, its local color and plot will surprise Florida natives and visitors alike.

"Funny, insightful, poignant and uplifting."

"Sometimes, an exceptional writer finds an exceptional premise, and the result is a truly exceptional book. Such is the case with MISS DREAMSVILLE...The writing is brilliant, especially the dialogue through which the characters are defined."

"You may already know Hearth's name - the former journalist wrote the nonfiction book HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS' FIRST 100 YEARS, which was a bestseller and play. MISS DREAMSVILLE is Hearth's first novel, and her fictional storytelling is just as captivating."

“It’s a fun novel that flies by and makes readers glad Hearth is expanding her own literary horizons.”

"A funny and charming fiction debut."

Amy Hill Hearth's delightful first novel, Miss Dreamville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society is a rollicking, provocative tale about how reading and meeting others who are different can be the most subversive of acts.

"Amy Hill Hearth honors and humanizes people and their wonderful diversities, [and] astutely weaves pertinent, factual histories into her debut novel. What a laudable book!"