Synopses & Reviews
Review
“Ms. Costa writes like she was born to the craft. Wonderful storytelling and memorable characters you wont soon forget. Big Daddy is not just
any character—he gets into your head and refuses to budge.”
—Hillel Black, editor of twenty New York Times bestsellers
Review
“In the tradition of Patrick D. Smiths treasured A Land Remembered, Jo-Ann Costas impressive debut novel is a grand story that spans generations, where dark secrets both divide and unite. With a literary writing style and a careful eye and ear for the telling details and voices of her people, Jo-Anns Bequest is part gothic, part adventure, part mystery and wholly satisfying. Move over Tennessee Williams, there is a new Big Daddy in town.”
—Claire Matturro, award-winning Author of Skinny-dipping, Wildcat Wine, Bone Valley and Sweetheart Deal.
Review
“The Bequest of Big Daddy marks the arrival of a fresh new voice in Southern literature.”
—Will Allison, Author of What You Have Left and the New York Times bestseller Long Drive Home.
Review
""Many Southern families have their Big Daddy - the wayward rapscallion whose criminal activities pave the way for his descendants respectability. In vivid prose that is at turns satirical, tender, and horrific, Jo-Ann Costa paints a compelling portrait of one such man - Ratio Janson. She shows how his loveless childhood developed in him a desperation and ruthlessness that assured not only his immediate physical survival, but also his eventual transformation into a wealthy patriarch, a true Southern capofamiglia. Anyone who enjoys Southern fiction or picaresque novels will love this one!"" —Lisa Alther, Author of six novels and four New York Times bestsellers, among them Washed in the Blood.
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“Ms. Costa writes like she was born to the craft. Wonderful storytelling and memorable characters you wont soon forget. Big Daddy is not just any character—he gets into your head and refuses to budge.”
—Hillel Black, editor of twenty New York Times bestsellers
Synopsis
Ratio Janson is the crusty patriarch with an infamous background, a hair-trigger temper reverently referred to as Big Daddy by his family clan. His feisty great-granddaughter Jo-Dee overhears shocking gossip at Big Daddy’s funeral and is determined to plumb his murky past, from Reconstruction to the present day.
About the Author
Jo-Ann Costa studied her craft at the knees of her clannish Alabama kin, who are among the most accomplished at fabricating outlandish tales. Thus trained as a storyteller, Ms. Costa honed her compelling voice while serving in executive roles for a mega-corporation founded by the late Howard Hughes. While there, and with higher stakes, she invented tales of a different sort. Since then, Ms. Costa has once again deployed her trademark spin with her debut novel, The Bequest of Big Daddy.