With home-cooked, Southern literary flair, Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes) returns with Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! "Baby Girl," as she is lovingly referred to by her sweet, country cousins, is Dena Nordstrom, a tall, blonde, corn-fed girl who makes it big in Manhattan. Ms. Nordstrom is now the top TV anchorwoman in the city, beating out veteran journalists and making ungodly amounts of money. Although her life seems charmed, Dena is frazzled and miserable. She drinks uncontrollably, is a borderline compulsive liar, and is forced to undergo therapy because of her stress-induced ulcer. Her psychiatrist, Dr. O'Malley, falls madly in love with her, of course, and sends the blonde bombshell to a close colleague, Dr. Diggers. Living up to her name, Diggers shovels up a mountain of dysfunction and forces Dena to face her mysterious past; all the while the good doctor reports back to brokenhearted O'Malley about her patient's progress. Meanwhile, back at the station, Ms. Nordstrom has made friends and enemies in very high places. Her greatest ally is Howard Kingsley, the Cronkitesque reporter who wields power with more ease than most seasoned politicos: "He closed the door and handed the driver a ten-dollar bill. 'Take this young lady where she wants to go for me, will you? And be careful, she's valuable property.'" It's a good thing she has friends like that, because her boss, Ira Wallace, makes George Costanza from Seinfeld look like a scrupulous saint. When Wallace hires a nasty but effective mole by the name of Sidney Capello to dig up garbage on celebrities, Nordstrom has a head-on collision with his sense of ethics (or lack thereof) and gets Capello canned. Or so she thinks. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! is very much like its star, Dena Nordstrom: pretty, scattered, confused, and sometimes interesting. It's a long ride from the Whistle Stop Cafe, and readers who enjoy Jan Karon's Mitford Fall series will most likely be the biggest fans of Flagg's third novel.

Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Fans of Fannie Flagg's Southern-fried yarns will enjoy her folksy reading of her third novel--the story of New York TV anchorwoman Dena Nordstrom, who must take her fast-paced life down a few notches, face her mysterious past, and shake hands with her small-town heritage in order to find happiness. Listening to Flagg's storytelling on this abridged rendition, one might as well be sitting across a kitchen table from her as she pours two cups of coffee and serves up slices of apple pie along with the latest neighborhood gossip. Flagg, author of the bestselling book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, received a Grammy Award nomination for her narration on the audio version of that book. (Running time: five hours, four cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs

From Publishers Weekly
Because so much of Flagg's third novel takes place in the 1970s media-celebrity echelons of New York City, it doesn't offer the regional and historical color and texture of its predecessor, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Instead, Flagg's achievement here lies in a well-choreographed story of loyalty and survival that zigzags deftly across the post-war years, panning in on the never-changing decency of Elmwood Springs, Mo., then pulling back to watch national TV news devolve into sensationalism?all the while drawing us into the compelling life of Dena Nordstrom. Star of America's most popular morning news show, Dena shuts herself down and shuts men out for painful reasons that are unknown even to her. Only after the stress of ambush- and sound-byte journalism brings on a hemorrhaging ulcer does Dena slowly unearth the scandal that, when Dena was four, drove her mother from Elmwood Springs, hometown of the war hero father that Dena never knew. That her mother's nemesis is a newspaper gossipmonger is nicely ironic, although her mother's secret shame seems slightly larger than life. In contrast, Dena's college friend Sookie and great aunt Elner are reminders of how well Flagg can cook up memorable women from the most down-to-earth ingredients, while a cameo by Tennessee Williams is uncannily true to life. Fans may be sorry at first to leave Elmwood Springs for the big city, but even the most reluctant will get wrapped up in Dena's search for the truth about her family and her past. Author tour; Random House audio. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
How to follow up a sensation like Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe? With this story of rising TV star Dena Nordstrom, who thinks she's too busy for anything but her career.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The New York Times Book Review, Robert Plunket
...it has a very ingratiating cast and the unusual quality of getting better as it goes along.

From AudioFile
Fannie Flagg brings a real down-home quality to her reading of her own novel. The colloquialisms of Alabama and the sounds of Southern voices give a touching and lighthearted aura to the story of a TV anchorwoman's struggle to rise to the top of network news. The juxtaposition of fame, corporate TV machinations and small-town sensibilities are covered well in this abridgment, and Fannie Flagg makes listening to her intriguing novel rewarding entertainment. J.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Author of the best-selling Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) and cowriter of the script for the popular movie based on that book, Flagg follows up with this sentimental look at small-town life. Set during the late '70s, the novel follows the career of Dena Nordstrom, a hard-charging TV anchorwoman determined to make her mark in prime-time television, although she has qualms about its change in focus from hard news to scandalmongering. Despite her aura of confidence, however, Dena is having a tough time. Plagued by a drinking problem and a bleeding ulcer, Dena finally consults a psychiatrist, who helps her face her traumatic feelings about her mysterious, emotionally distant mother and her nomadic childhood. Finally unlocking the secret of her racial heritage, Dena decides to chuck New York for the slower pace and friendly atmosphere of her hometown of Elmwood Springs, Missouri. Framing Dena's story are excerpts from an old-timey radio show broadcast in the '40s and portraits of Dena's eccentric, lovable relatives. With its colloquial style, focus on family problems, and small-town setting, this novel, though somewhat contrived, won't disappoint fans of Fried Green Tomatoes and should also appeal to those who liked Olive Ann Burns' Cold Sassy Tree (1984). Joanne Wilkinson

Review
"Utterly irresistible."
--Time

"ENJOYABLE . . . [FLAGG] KEEPS IT SIMPLE, SHE KEEPS IT BRIGHT, SHE KEEPS IT MOVING RIGHT ALONG--AND, MOST OF ALL, SHE KEEPS IT BELOVED."
--The New York Times Book Review

"SATISFYING . . . [FLAGG'S] FAITH IN THE HEALING POWER OF SMALL TOWNS AND FAMILY ARE REFRESHING."
--People


From the Trade Paperback edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! is the funny, serious, and compelling new novel by Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (and prize-winning co-writer of the classic movie). Once again, Flagg's humor and respect and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: a brainy, beautiful, and ambitious rising star of 1970s television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications, and her past marked by mystery.

SYNOPSIS

Fannie Flagg's utterly charming Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe has delighted millions of readers. Now, with her long-awaited new novel, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!, Flagg returns with the story of Dena Nordstrom, a rising network TV anchorwoman in '70s Manhattan, whose future is full of promise, whose present is rich with complications, and whose past is clouded by mystery.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Because so much of Flagg's third novel takes place in the 1970s media-celebrity echelons of New York City, it doesn't offer the regional and historical color and texture of its predecessor, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Instead, Flagg's achievement here lies in a well-choreographed story of loyalty and survival that zigzags deftly across the post-war years, panning in on the never-changing decency of Elmwood Springs, Mo., then pulling back to watch national TV news devolve into sensationalism--all the while drawing us into the compelling life of Dena Nordstrom. Star of America's most popular morning news show, Dena shuts herself down and shuts men out for painful reasons that are unknown even to her. Only after the stress of ambush- and sound-byte journalism brings on a hemorrhaging ulcer does Dena slowly unearth the scandal that, when Dena was four, drove her mother from Elmwood Springs, hometown of the war hero father that Dena never knew. That her mother's nemesis is a newspaper gossipmonger is nicely ironic, although her mother's secret shame seems slightly larger than life. In contrast, Dena's college friend Sookie and great aunt Elner are reminders of how well Flagg can cook up memorable women from the most down-to-earth ingredients, while a cameo by Tennessee Williams is uncannily true to life. Fans may be sorry at first to leave Elmwood Springs for the big city, but even the most reluctant will get wrapped up in Dena's search for the truth about her family and her past.

Library Journal

How to follow up a sensation like Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe? With this story of rising TV star Dena Nordstrom, who thinks she's too busy for anything but her career.

Robert Plunket - New York Times Book Review

I found the whole thing rather enjoyable....[Flagg] keeps it simple, she keeps it bright, she keeps it moving right along...

Jill Smolowe - Time

...utterly irresistible...fast-paced.

Laura Jamison - People