Jenny By Nature: Erskine Caldwell

I'm Jenny by name and Jenny by nature, and I couldn't be changed even by legislature. I never was one to make a pretense of not wanting a man for company. A buxom, big-hearted landlady, retired from the oldest profession in the world and now more or less respectable, Jenny Royster holds sway over a colourful household in the cold shadow of the Rugged Cross Church. She fills her rooming-house with the town's lame ducks - Veasy Goodwillie, a midget on winter vacation from the circus who keeps Jenny warm on cold nights; Betty Woodruffe, who has become quite the town scandal with her frequent and indiscriminate visits to the less respectable motels; Judge Milo Rainey, Jenny's weakness and her slow-moving middle-aged suitor who helps when the Rugged Cross community persecute Jenny for harbouring immoral lodgers. But even he has a battle on his hands when a beautiful dark-skinned girl from Palmetto County moves in, inciting the town to raise the black flag. It's a tough, warm-hearted moral tale, full of racy, country characters and ready to poke fun at small minds and hypocrisy. Possible political incorrectness.