forward reflections

Christmas Day of 2005 was the last time four generations of author Nora Burch's family would gather at the same table for a Holiday dinner. By the same time the following year, there were two empty seats. In this memoir, Burch describes the loss of first her mother and then her husband and narrates how she came to terms with her grief.

In "Go North, Young Lady," Burch tells how she returned to teaching and then made one of the most drastic decisions of her life. She left her home state of Louisiana, where she had lived all of her life, and relocated to Massachusetts in 2010. From information gathered in a journal, Burch shares a year's worth of recollections as she adapted to her new home 1,000 miles away.

From red beans and rice, jambalaya, and Who Dat to quahogs, cawfee milk, and Go Pats, Go North, Young Lady recounts culture shock, first impressions, and travels experienced by a Southern girl after relocating to the North."