Whistling Past the Graveyard

Whistling Past the Graveyard (2013) is a coming-of-age novel by Midwest American fiction writer Susan Crandall. The title comes from an English phrase that references how people often try to act unafraid in dangerous situations. The story follows nine-year-old Starla as she runs away from life with her strict grandmother and travels with a cast of characters to find her estranged mother in Nashville. This story takes place during the civil rights movement, exposing Starla, who is white, to different Black perspectives and varying types of racism as she travels across state lines. In the story, the characters face precarity as they tackle themes such as The Impact of Racism on Individuals and Communities, The Complexity of Familial Relationships, and Wishful Thinking Versus Confronting Adversity.

This guide refers to the 2013 Gallery Books e-book edition.

Content Warning: This book takes place in the Southern United States in 1963, and it includes racist language and violence. The book also discusses murder, child abuse, spousal abuse, animal abuse, sexual assault, and fatphobia. This guide touches on all these topics.

Plot Summary

During the summer of 1963, nine-year-old Jane Starla Claudelle lives with her strict grandmother Mamie in Cayuga Springs, Mississippi. Her father, Porter, works on an oil rig on the Gulf Coast, and her mother, Lulu, is in Nashville trying to become a professional singer. Her parents got married when they were teenagers, and Lulu left Starla when Starla was a baby.

Starla misses Lulu, idealizing her as a famous singer who cannot wait to reunite with her daughter and husband. The people in Starla’s community have a negative view of Lulu and treat her as an unsavory “secret.”

Starla is in the third grade and admits that she can be difficult to handle. Her “sassy” attitude gets her into trouble, her red hair makes her stand out, and her bold character flabbergasts Mamie. Before the July 4 parade, Starla breaks a boy’s nose to punish him for bullying a little girl. Mamie punishes Starla by grounding her.

Disobeying Mamie, Starla goes to the parade, blending in with the other children. While playing with her best friend, Patti Lynn Todd, at the park, the mother of the boy with a broken nose appears and tries to take Starla home. Fearing a horrible punishment, Starla runs away to be with her mom in Nashville.

A Black woman, Eula Littleton, picks Starla up in a truck and gives her water. A white baby, James, is in the truck, and Eula admits that she saw a Black woman leave the baby on the steps of a white church. Eula took the baby and wants to keep him forever, but her abusive husband, Wallace, wants to get rid of the baby and Starla. Eula excuses Wallace’s behavior, and Starla tries to get away with James, but Wallace captures them. He tries to kill Starla, so Eula hits him on the head with a frying pan, killing him.

Fearing repercussions, Eula, Starla, and James leave Eula’s home and drive the truck to Nashville. A racist driver smashes their truck, and the truck breaks down. They go to a town, the Bottom, and a Black woman, Miss Cyrena Jones, gives them shelter and support. In Cyrena’s kitchen, Eula and Starla bake pies, which they sell to restaurants, and Cyrena teaches Starla about the importance of the civil rights movement. Starla learns that not every Black person supports the activists: One of Cyrena’s friends, Mrs. Washington, believes that the movement is futile and exacerbates the racist status quo.

The racist Jenkins brothers try to assault Eula, so when Starla sees their truck at a carnival, she breaks one of its headlights, leading to a run-in with the sheriff. Later, the Jenkins brothers throw fire at Cyrena’s house, and Cyrena puts Eula, Starla, and James on a bus to Nashville. On the bus ride, Starla observes segregated bathrooms, water fountains, and diners. Starla reflects on how Mamie thinks of anti-racist activists as “agitators,” but the trip confirms Starla’s belief that the activists are just and reasonable.

On the bus, Starla, to avoid standing out, doesn’t ride with Eula and James. Off the bus and in Nashville, the three reunite, and Starla asks around about her mother, but no one seems to know her. Outside a church, Black men almost assault Eula, but the reverend intervenes, and he and his parishioners welcome Eula, Starla, and James.

At a bar, Starla finds her mother, though she doesn’t recognize Lulu at first. Lulu isn’t glad to see Starla, nor is she famous. Lulu works and lives in a disorderly apartment with her new husband. She calls Porter, and Porter comes and drives Eula, Starla, and James back to Cayuga Springs. Porter puts Eula in contact with a sheriff friend of his. The sheriff is racist, but he does not bring charges against her for killing Wallace or taking James.

It is then revealed that James is the baby of Patti Lynn’s sister, Cathy. The Todds put James up for adoption and send Cathy away to live with relatives in Ohio. Porter, Starla, and Eula live in an apartment––the upstairs of Mrs. White’s house. White taught piano, and Porter, Starla, and Lulu lived in the same apartment before Lulu left. White is glad to have people around again, and Starla has a wonderful Thanksgiving with Porter, Eula, Cyrena, and White. When memories of Lulu bother her, she thinks of her new family and feels better.