ASIN 1400063671
UPC 9781400063673

Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes: A Novel Hardcover – May 16, 2006

by Cathy Holton (Author)
kud • zu \kud-zü\ n: a ubiquitous vine/weed found in Southern climes that, left uncontrolled, will grow over any fixed object in its path, including trees, power lines, and the entire state of Georgia.

deb•u•tante \de-byu-tant\ n: a young woman making a debut into society, easily spotted in white dress and pearl necklace. Common names include Muffy, Bootsy, and Bunny.

Eadie Boone is no shrinking violet. An artist and former beauty queen who married into one of the first families of Ithaca, Georgia, she tackles everything with gusto and flair. But tailing her wayward husband proves to be, well, an exasperating chore. If only Trevor would just see the light, dump his twenty-two-year-old hussy, and return home, Eadie’s creative energy could be put to better use. Now all she has to do is convince him.

Nita Broadwell, a good Southern girl from a good Southern family, is jolted out of complacency when she discovers condoms in her husband’s shirt pocket (“Maybe he’d found them on the ground and picked them up”). Between clinging to denial and dodging her overbearing mother-in-law, Nita is also trying to break her addiction to steamy bodice-ripper novels. Only now it appears she’s authoring her own real-life romance tale with a hunky handyman thirteen years her junior.

Lavonne Zibolsky–a transplanted Yankee, bless her heart–is saddled with planning the annual Broadwell & Boone law firm party. That and her lackluster marriage have her seeking solace in the contents of her refrigerator. If she could just put down the Rocky Road ice cream and peach pie, she might get around to finding a caterer, dropping sixty pounds, and figuring out how to fall in love with her husband again. Not necessarily in that order.

Bonded by years of friendship, these three women discover what else they have in common: lying, cheating spouses. So they heed their collective betrayals as a wake-up call and band together to exact sweet revenge. The take-charge trio will see to it that the punishment is just, exquisitely humiliating, and downright hilarious.

Cathy Holton’s debut novel is a delicious yarn of friendship and marriage, secrets and retribution, and how nothing stays hidden for long. Against a Southern backdrop of gentility and decorum, Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes dares to abandon Junior League social graces in ways that would make even Scarlett O’Hara blush.



"It’s great fun reading about these women as they trade their tea for tequila and get smart, get out, and get even, with amusing, and surprising results." --Nancy Thayer, author of The Hot Flash Club

"Sly, smart, and full of great characters -- and then there’s that sweet, sweet revenge. Getting even has never been so creative. Or delicious." --Louise Shaffer, author of The Ladies of Garrison Gardens

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three 40-something women married to partners at an Ithaca, Ga., law firm form a First Wives Club south of the Mason-Dixon line in Holton's slapstick revenge tale with serious undertones. Affluent housewives Nita Broadwell, Eadie Boone and Lavonne Zibolsky try to fill the emptiness of their lives: quiet Nita devours soft-porn romance novels and lusts after her carpenter to assuage the hurt caused by her controlling husband, Charles; artistic Eadie stalks her husband, Trevor, who's about to leave her for his 20-something secretary; and formerly career-minded Lavonne, a brassy Northern Jewish transplant, gobbles ice cream and bagels to compensate for her passionless marriage to Leonard. At a disastrous, margarita-fueled holiday party for the firm, they discover the truth about their husbands' annual hunting trip and realize they're united by more than friendship and disgruntlement: all of their husbands have been chasing hookers, not wild game, on this getaway. With Eadie as the ringleader, they plot to sabotage the good ole' boys' trip. Adventure and comeuppance ensue, culminating with the gals' rebellious attendance at the subversive Kudzu Ball, where time-honored Southern traditions are parodied. Though this debut strives to entertain while skewering idiosyncratic social mores in the New South, it lacks real drama. (May 16)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Not since the Ya-Ya Sisterhood has there been a group of good ol' gals to rival Holton's trio of scorned Southern women. Best friends for years, earthy Lavonne, mousy Nita, and feisty Eadie are at once privy to and frequently at odds with the creme de la creme of Ithaca, Georgia, society, courtesy of their husbands' stations in life. All three are married to pillars of the community, lawyers who care more for their annual Montana hunting trip than they do for their spouses. As the preparations for this year's getaway ratchet into high gear, the wives uncover evidence that the only conquests their husbands are interested in making are of the two-footed, female variety. Hell hath no fury, as the saying goes, and the wives concoct a deliciously devious scheme to make their husbands pay--big time--for their indiscretions. Irresistibly entertaining, Holton's debut is hilarious, a cunning, rollicking addition to the popular Southern "steel magnolias" genre. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books; First Edition (May 16, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400063671
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400063673
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
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