UGLY WAYS is the powerful tale of the three Lovejoy sisters – Betty, Emily and Annie Ruth -- reunited in their hometown of Mulberry, Georgia on the occasion of their mother’s death. The sisters have had a complicated love-hate relationship with the woman who insisted on being called Mudear even though she is as far from a Mother Dear as anyone could get. In life, Mudear, a complicated, self-focused woman, ruled her house and raised her daughters with an iron hand, wise sayings and a distant interest after her “change.” Selfish, manipulative, complex Mudear may be dead, but she is far from gone. As the emotionally scarred Lovejoys prepare for their mother’s funeral, Mudear’s spirit hovers above them, complaining about her daughters “ugly ways” in death as she did in life.
With their totally demoralized father Ernest hovering on the periphery of their lives, Betty, Emily and Annie Ruth get about the business of burial. But before the Lovejoy girls can put Mudear in the ground, they must come to grips with their lives, their choices, their feelings and their future with and without Mudear.
The novel challenges the stereotypical image of the African-American mother as a superwoman of unlimited strength, compassion and wisdom. With humor and wisdom, UGLY WAYS explores the past as it affirms the future. As Mudear the realist says, “When you dead, you done, so let the good times roll.”
