Haze, the Radical Hag!

Haze Evans, celebrates her 81st birthday, with humor and good spirits, but only a week later suffers a massive stroke. Haze has been writing a column for the Granite Creek Gazette since 1964 and is beloved by all. Susan, the publisher of the Gazette, is not only worried about losing the paper but also her dear friend, Haze. We get to know a lot of characters in Chronicles of a Radical Hag (With Recipes), but all of the characters are connected in some way to Haze (btw, her name is Hazel; her brother sang a song to her the first time he held her "She puts us in a daze, our little Haze." and it stuck.")

This was a solid 4-star read for me. I really enjoyed (though didn't always agree with Haze's political viewpoints) learning about Haze through her columns and the people who loved her. Next to Haze, Sam was my favorite character in the book because of the way he matured and really came into his own.

I always like finding the reasoning or mention of the title in a book, and this one didn't disappoint. "...I don't mind reading the light piffle that is this columnist's usual fare, but this morning's looney harangue was nothing more than a chronicle of a radical hag!" Haze didn't mind those kind of letters and it even became a joke to her. "Every now and then when Haze would turn in what she knew would be a controversial column, she'd put a sticky note on it saying, 'From the Chronicles of a Radical Hag.'"

Thank you to BookishFirst and The University of Minnesota Press for the advanced copy.