Rhett DeVane’s latest novel, Ditch Weed (Twisted Road 2024), sparkles with her trademark humor and Southernisms. Longtime fans of her Chattahoochee stories will recognize some of the background characters like town busybody Elvina Houston and gay florist Jake Witherspoon, but the novel is a stand-alone. Perched in its heart are the “Purty-much Ruined” runaway teen Danae and the Wash-Away Laundromat’s elderly owner Mevlyn.
Readers quickly learn Danae has run away from her drunken father in Alabama “to stay alive.” She believes her older sister Mouse disappeared for the same reason years earlier. Although it has been a long time since Danae has seen her sister, she thinks she has spotted her on the streets of her new town, Chattahoochee, Florida. For reasons that are unclear at first, Danae doesn’t approach the skittish woman she thinks might be her sister, nor does the woman acknowledge her. This sighting sets up an evolving mystery.
Both Mr. Hal, the owner of an auto repair shop, and Mevlyn, the laundromat owner, prove to be blessings as Danae tries to survive in a new town. Danae’s mechanical skills earn her employment at Hal’s shop. He allows her to sleep on a cot in the back, which saves her from being homeless. Mevlyn provides additional support. Without pushing, she nudges Danae to reveal more about herself and why she ran away from home, to unfold her dark secrets. Mevlyn has secrets of her own and she knows how harmful they can be: “Secrets fester. They have a way of exploding. Or become so much a part of a person, they burr beneath the skin.” As Danae assists the elderly woman with one thing and then another, their lives become entwined. Like a daughter, Danae helps Mevlyn care for her cancer-stricken husband Sam and for her dog Sonny.
Another character who proves important to Danae’s well-being is Malcolm, a Black gay fellow about her age. They become fishing buddies. Despite all the good Danae finds about her new town, it isn’t perfect. As Malcolm points out, “Some of the kind, upstanding citizens in this very crowd would gladly string me up” for being Black and gay.
A novel would be weak without a villain, and DeVane is far too talented a writer to omit one from her tale. First, there is Danae’s abusive father, cleverly described as a man who “hunkered over breakfast, wearing resentment and a hangover like a permanent overcoat.” Besides the evil father, the thoroughly rotten Rich appears. Spoiled and entitled, he delivers danger to Chattahoochee in the form of vandalism, drugs, assault, and hate crimes.
Life lessons pepper this novel, as they do DeVane’s other stories. Two favorites are “What you put out—good and bad—has a way of doubling back at you,” and “No matter that Danae isn’t blood kin. Heart kin can be as good, better even.” DeVane’s writing is also ripe with colloquialisms like “Slap your pappy,” “stupid as a stick,” and “bless your heart.” And no DeVane novel would be complete without descriptions of an array of Southern culinary delights: cathead biscuits, tupelo honey, red velvet cake, creamy grits, and pimento cheese spread.
Danae’s story is one of survival against the odds. She is the ditch weed of the title:
Ditch weeds get ripped up, poisoned, and mowed over. Given a basic shift—some earth to put down new roots, a little water, a bit of time and space—a ditch weed can flourish again. Even flower.
Despite Danae’s rough start in life, she will not stay “purty much ruined.” The warm, kind people she meets in Chattahoochee give her the chance to put down new roots and thrive.
If you are a fan of Southern fiction, don’t miss this charming story. It’s as refreshing as a tall glass of sweet tea on a brutal August afternoon.
Rhett DeVane
Ditch Weed is DeVane’s eighth adult novel set in Chattahoochee. She has also written several middle grade chapter books. She currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
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