She: The Old Woman Who Took Over My Life

This slender book, the last of 29 written by Kathryn Tucker Windham over her long and productive life, will be an exquisitely bittersweet read for the many fans of the late storyteller and author from Selma, Alabama. Windham died in June 2011 at the age of 93, but only over the last 18 months of her life did she seem much constrained by her advancing years. Typically, she faced old age and its accompanying limitations with humor and curiosity. In She, the book Windham was putting the finishing touches on when she died, the author describes how she woke up one day to find that she had an unwanted houseguest, an old woman who had suddenly moved in and was taking over her life. Referring to this interloper simply as SHE, Windham invites readers into a lively colloquy between the author, whose spirit has not changed, and her alter ego, who moves haltingly toward her earthly end. She will leave you laughing and crying but also grateful and hopeful.