Janis Owens

In Janis Owens’ highly acclaimed first novel, My Brother Michael, we met Myra Sims through the eyes of her friend, brother-in-law, and one-time lover, Gabriel Catts, and we heard rumor of her violent child-hood, her bouts with mental illness, her remark-able rise from row-house poverty to the life of a rich, red-headed widow.

Now, in Myra Sims, we hear Myra’s story in her own flat Louisianan voice, funny and touching, sad and triumphant, as she evolves from voiceless victim to survivor, in no small part due to her lifelong fascination with the Baptist snobs who live across the fence, Catts by name, who are as different from her own family as night is from day.  Whereas Myra and her brother, Ira, are locked in the vowed secrecy of their father’s erratic violence, the Catts live a life of charmed normalcy that captivates and beguiles her from the moment she steps foot on Magnolia Hill, a north Florida mill town.

From Library Journal

Readers got a refreshing introduction to the Sims and Catts families in Owens’s first novel, My Brother Michael (LJ 12/96), but there is more than one side to every story. Here to tell her side is Myra Sims. Perhaps it is her fresh perspective as narrator, or perhaps it is Owens’s more confident and poignant writing, but this retelling adds depth to an already complex and haunting tale. Readers will become engrossed in the stories of brothers Gabe and Michael Catts and the woman, Myra, with whom their lives are entangled. For those who are new to their story, these strong and refreshing characters will not disappoint. Owens has proven she is a Southern writer who is here to stay, at least in the hearts of her readers.AShannon Haddock, BellSouth Corporate Lib., Birmingham, AL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The Tallahassee Democrat 

Owens sets her novel apart from other novels treading similar ground through a probing analysis of depression and its manifestations. Delving into the psychological ramifications of growing up under constant threat of brutality, she examines the consequences, explores survival strategies and finally blesses the reader with redemption for an unlikely protagonist.

From The Florida Times Union

Owens is the Pat Conroy of west Florida mill towns and forgotten crossroads all over the rural South.

“Janis Owens has written a heartfelt and poignant novel rooted in the beauty and sorrow of ordinary lives.”   Connie May Fowler

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