Summary

The first section contains the first two chapters of “Calling Me Home.” The entire novel alternates chapters between modern day and 1939 through the early 1940s, but the first two chapters introduce Dorrie Curtis and Isabelle McAllister as the main characters in modern day.

Isabelle, or Miss Isabelle as she is called in each chapter she narrates, is an 89-year-old white woman. She admits that Dorrie thought Isabelle didn’t like her because of the color of Dorrie’s skin. In fact, Isabelle was mad that her regular hairdresser, or beauty operator as Isabelle calls her, had up and quit, abandoning Isabelle when she needed her hair done. Isabelle explains how over the years of Dorrie doing her hair, the two got to know each other better and share stories about life in general, though Dorrie always shared more than Isabelle. Isabelle also makes...