Playing by the Rules

✍ Scribed by Elaine Meryl Brown

• Publisher: One World/Ballantine;Random House Publishing Group
• Year: 2006;2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 201 KB
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

From Booklist

The fictional historically black town of Lemon City, Virginia, is visited by the dreaded Outsiders when Jeremiah, a 25-year-old Vietnam vet, and his 12-year-old sister, Ruby Rose, stumble upon the town. They are running from the authorities, Jeremiah accused of kidnapping his sister from foster care following the death of their drug-addict mother. Dunlap family matriarch Nana takes pity on the young girl and makes an exception to the rule against welcoming outsiders. This is particularly hard for Nana, who lost her granddaughter Faye to marriage to an Outsider, a marriage that ended in tragedy. While Ruby Rose has captured Nana's heart, Jeremiah threatens to steal the affections of Nana's granddaughter Louise, who has recently become involved with Medford though the two have eyed each other for years. The Outsiders shake up the complacency of Lemon City even as they learn to adjust to the rhythms that have sustained the community for generations. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

“Playing by the rules isn’t always easy–but in this quirky, self-cloistered community, Lemon City’s peculiarly delightful, eccentric residents do their best to follow the town’s ten mandates–even with outsiders. Elaine Meryl Brown’s storytelling is new and fresh, yet warmly familiar.”
–Virginia DeBerry, co-author of Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made
*
*When there’s a knock on the Dunlap’s door in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, Nana knows it can’t be good. The last time an outsider managed to worm his way into Lemon City, mischief followed. But despite her doubts, she can’t turn away the young man who’s kidnapped his baby sister from an unfit foster mother.

Before long, Jeremiah and Ruby Rose are practically part of the family. But that’s not sitting well with everyone–especially Medford, the boyfriend of Nana’s spunky granddaughter, Louise. It seems Louise has taken a shine to Jeremiah, and Medford’s suddenly got some stiff competition. Of course he’s too busy tracking down his birth mother–who left him on a doorstep when he was a baby–to be bothered with Louise’s flirtatious nature.

As Medford moves closer to the truth about his mom, young Ruby Rose finds comfort in her newfound home, Louise wavers between love and lust, and Nana prepares to give her feisty old neighbor a run for her money at the annual fair’s tomato contest. By summer’s end, a mystery will be solved as Lemon City secrets reveal themselves–and bring about more than a few changes of heart.

From the Trade Paperback edition.