Dovey Coe

By Frances O'Roark Dowell

My name is Dovey Coe and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I’m here to lay the record straight, to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it, too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn’t kill him.

Dovey Coe says what’s on her mind, so it’s no secret that she can’t stand Parnell Caraway. Parnell may be the son of the richest man in town, but he’s mean and snobby, and Dovey can’t stand the fact that he’s courting her sister, Caroline, or the way he treats her brother, Amos, as if he were stupid just because he can’t hear.

So when Parnell turns up dead, and Dovey’s in the room where his body is discovered, she soon finds herself on trial for murder. Can the outspoken Dovey sit still and trust a city slicker lawyer who’s still wet behind the ears to get her out of the biggest mess of her life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Release date: Mar 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781442490307

Frances O'Roark Dowell

Frances O’Roark Dowell is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Dovey Coe, which won the Edgar Award and the William Allen White Award; Where I’d Like to Be; The Secret Language of Girls and its sequels The Kind of Friends We Used to Be and The Sound of Your Voice, Only Really Far Away; Chicken Boy; Shooting the Moon, which was awarded the Christopher Award; the Phineas L. MacGuire series; Falling In; The Second Life of Abigail Walker, which received three starred reviews; Anybody Shining; Ten Miles Past Normal; Trouble the Water; the Sam the Man series; The Class; How to Build a Story; and most recently, Hazard. She lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina. Connect with Frances online at FrancesDowell.com.

Book preview

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Reviews for Dovey Coe

[robertalea-223265 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this probably 20 years ago, and remembered parts, but I couldn't quite recall the ending, so I read it again. Just a good the second time around. I love Dowell's storytelling as well. Great voice.

[Eduarda · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

bom

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The appealing strength of "Dovey Coe" rests entirely on the shoulders of the feisty but charming eponymous narrator. Dovey Coe is a 12 year old girl in the mountains of North Carolina in 1928. After a miserable summer of barely tolerating her big sister's vile suitor, the young man is found murdered, with young Dovey Coe standing beside him, bloody knife in her hand. She is brought to trial for murder. The story line is interesting, but by the time we get to the true meat of the plot, the astute reader will have already solved the mystery, and the courtroom drama feels rushed; with a solution so obvious it stretches credibility that the sheriff, judge, attorneys, etc. hadn't solved the issue before it reached the courtroom. However, the first person narration is so well written, and Dovey is so likable (at least to me) that the weaknesses of the book are easily forgiven. And it is after all written for a much younger reader than myself - a 50 year old father of two, who is on a kick of reading YA novels lately.

[librarybrandy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My question: how come every historical fiction book in a rural setting features a girl who is being coaxed out of her tomboy ways? I get the pressure to be a Lady, and that the tomboys have bigger adventures--but I'm certain there were girls who acted like Ladies and still had interesting conversations and adventures, and I'd like to see something about them. (Books set in cities tend to be about shallower young women. These are generalities.)


Dovey didn't kill Parnell Caraway. She didn't like him, sure, but she didn't kill him, and she wants everyone to know that. The problem is that nobody believes her--not after her sister cruelly rejected his marriage proposal, not after Dovey ran her big mouth about how much she hated him, not after she was the one found standing over his dead body. But if Dovey didn't kill Parnell, then... who did?

Historial fiction, and a mystery of what actually happened to the jerk.

[rata_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As you read this book you can almost hear the southern twang of the USA. the main character Dovey Coe is a 12 year old tomboy that is accused of murder. The sentence " My name is Dovey Coe and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I'm here to lay the record straight, to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it, too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn't kill him." sums up the theme of this book perfectly. Dovey Coe makes no secret that she can't stand Parnell Caraway. Parnell may be the son of the richest man in town, but he's mean and snobby, and Dovey can't stand the fact that he's courting her sister, Caroline, or the way he treats her brother, Amos, as if he were stupid just because he can't hear.So when Parnell turns up dead, and Dovey's in the room where his body is discovered, she soon finds herself on trial for murder. Can the outspoken Dovey sit still and trust a city slicker lawyer who's still wet behind the ears to get her out of the biggest mess of her life? Who did murder Parnell Caraway?

[paakre-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like the way Dovey Coe talks, in a mountain dialect lite, though I am not sure it is authentic, being from the big city. I was impatient for the crime to take place. When it finally did, it felt sort of harsh for a children's book. I wish the main character were a little less saucy. She began to get on my nerves, but that is how a twelve year old is sometimes.

[avocadopenguin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little schmaltzy at times, but a great read nonetheless. I was given this for my eleventh birthday and read it over and over again for years. The story is well-paced and interesting, Dovey is an extremely likeable narrator and perhaps most importantly, this book never patronises its young readers.Special mention goes to the book's first paragraph, which is up there with "All children, except one, grow up" as one of the very best children's book openings.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dovey Coe and her family are poor by the standards set by others. By Dovey's standard, they are rich in the love of the land, in the love of family and in the love of simple things like climbing a mountain to find fox glove and the wild life of the woods.Dovey is plain looking by the standards set by others. By her standards, it is what's inside that counts.Dovey's sister Caroline is beautiful by all standards. When the son of the richest man in town sets his hooks on Caroline, he is unpleasantly surprised that she is not enamored with his bravado, good looks and money.Dovey's brother was born deaf. By the standards of the town, he is stupid and an object of ridicule. By Dovey's family's standards, he is a rich jewel of love.When Parnell Caraway learns he cannot obtain what he wants, he attempts to harm Dovey's family. Through the crystal clear eyes of a child, the story unfolds like dominoes wherein one is touched and the rest fall in motion.I liked spunky, spirited Dovey Coe. She very much reminded me of Scout Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird.Highly recommended! Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award.

[corydickason · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The character of Dovey was perfectly drawn, and the themes deftly handled. I worry that this might be a book adults like about children, rather than necessarily a children's book. It would be a good tie-in to a history class to talk about how women and disable people were treated early in the last century.

[silvermonkey_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

In my opinion this is the most boring book I have ever read! The way they talk, saying, "I reckon" and stuff is really boring! But I absolutely don't like this book at all! The one part I guess I like is when Parnell Caraway dies!!

[cne15 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a girl and people think that she did something bad and she says that she didn't.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dovey Coe has a strong voice as the narrator of this story. When Parnell turns up dead and Dovey, who has often expressed her dislike for him, is found in the same room, she is accused of murder. The book club members thought this book had a lot of exposition leading up to the murder which mover slowly and felt that the trial and resolution of the story were handled too quickly at the end of the story. But everyone was kept guessing about what really happened to Parnell.