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Where The Heart Is By Billie Letts

Where the Heart Is - By Billie Letts
Highlights of the Story:

Novalee Nation is seventeen, seven months pregnant, 37 pounds overweight and superstitious of the number seven. Novalee and her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens, were on their way to start a new life in California. Novalee has dreams of a house without wheels and a real family, both of which she has never had before. She wants to document their journey with pictures for the baby by taking a photograph as they crossed over every state line. Willy Jack is getting impatient with Novalee having to go to the bathroom all the time. He also thinks her dreams and pictures are a silly waste of time.
After she makes Willy Jack stop for another bathroom break, he abandons Novalee at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah Oklahoma. She is stranded with only $7.77 in her pocket and her Polaroid camera. Before the shock of being dumped has had time to sink in, Novalee meets a few of the town's "colorful" locals. She meets religious Thelma "Sister" Husband, the "Official Welcome Wagon" of Sequoya. At first, Sister Husband mistakes Novalee for someone else. She offers her own weird brand of wisdom along with a welcome basket and an open invitation to "come out anytime." Novalee takes Sister's picture for her baby's memory book. Next, Novalee meets Moses Whitecotton, a black photographer who tells her to be sure to give her baby a strong name. Novalee takes his picture as well. He will later teach her all he knows about photography. Next, a young Native American boy named Benny Goodluck gives Novalee a buckeye tree for good luck. She takes his picture too. A youthful Benny will also play a part in Novalee's rising photographic career. Later, Novalee will help a 17-year-old Benny get through a special "rite of passage."
She makes the best of a bad situation and "moves in" to the Wal-Mart for the next two months. During this time, she keeps a written account of what she "owes" Wal-Mart....