Where the Heart Is (1995)

Where the Heart Is is a 1995 novel by author Billie Letts. It was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in December 1998, and was adapted into a 2000 film by the same name.

The novel is about Novalee Nation, a pregnant and destitute teenager deserted by her boyfriend in a Walmart store in Sequoyah, Oklahoma. There, she forges friendships with a group of eccentric but loving people.

Plot summary

The novel opens with seventeen-year-old Novalee Nation, and her boyfriend Willy Jack, traveling from Tennessee to California, where Willy Jack claims he was promised by his cousin, J. Paul, a job working at a trainyard. Novalee is seven months pregnant, and superstitious about sevens after a series of misfortunes over the course of her life: at the age of 7, her mother ran off with a baseball umpire named Fred, her best friend in seventh grade was arrested, and a crazy customer at her café job cut her from wrist to elbow, a wound which took 77 stitches to close up. Meanwhile, Willy Jack is hiding from Novalee his plan to lose a finger at the trainyard so that he can win a cash settlement, like his cousin did, and not have to work again.

Novalee makes Willy Jack place his hand on her stomach so that he can feel the baby's heartbeat - Willy Jack insists he feels nothing, and continues to treat Novalee and her pregnancy with annoyed indifference. Novalee convinces Willy Jack to stop at a Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, so she can use the restroom and purchase a pair of sandals, as hers fell through the rusted floor of their beat-up Plymouth. When Novalee comes out of the Walmart, she realizes Willy Jack has left her with nothing more than her beach bag and the $7.77 in change.

With nowhere else to go, Novalee spends the afternoon at the Walmart and meets Sister Thelma Husband, a kind, spunky, and deeply religious older woman who runs the town's Welcome Wagon, and hands out chapters of the Bible to people she meets. Sister Husband initially "mistakes" Novalee for a girl named Ruth Ann Mott, gives Novalee a Welcome Wagon basket, and invites her to come visit her whenever she likes. Novalee also meets Moses Whitecotton, a photographer who shoots portraits at the Walmart. Moses tells Novalee to give her baby a name "that will mean something" and "withstand a lot of bad times," and gifts her a photo album. Finally, she meets Benny Goodluck, a Native American boy who gives Novalee a buckeye tree for good luck. When the Walmart closes, Novalee initially panics as she is trapped inside of the store, but, as it provides her with temporary shelter, takes refuge there.

Meanwhile, Willy Jack continues on his way to California, but quickly runs out of money and gas. He stops at a local dive bar and meets Jolene, the bar owner's teenage daughter. Willy Jack convinces Jolene that he's a musician on his way to Las Vegas who had his wallet and license stolen - she agrees to use her own money to fix up his car, on the condition that he takes her to Vegas with him. Upon their departure, they're almost immediately pulled over by the police, who suspect Willy Jack of being responsible for a theft at a nearby convenience store. The police find fourteen cartons of stolen cigarettes in the trunk of his car. When Willy Jack protests, Jolene, who had committed the theft, but is friendly with the police, further accuses him to cover herself. He is subsequently arrested and sent to jail.

As Novalee continues to live in Walmart, she watches as the buckeye tree becomes sick. She takes a walk to the library where she meets Forney Hull, who helps her find books about the buckeye. Forney is from a well-bred family, originally from New England, but had to drop out of college to take care of his alcoholic sister, the librarian. Forney comes off as eccentric and standoffish, but agrees to help Novalee as she shows a burgeoning fascination for books and learning. Novalee learns what she needs in order to save her buckeye tree, and takes a walk to Sister Husband's home to ask permission to plant her buckeye on her property, to which Sister agrees.

As the weeks pass, Novalee becomes good friends with Forney, Sister Husband, and Sister's companion Mr. Sprock. Forney, who is beginning to fall in love with Novalee, throws her an intimate 18th birthday party in the library, consisting of gourmet dishes he's cooked himself. The celebration is cut short when Forney's alcoholic sister, Mary Elizabeth, takes a fall upstairs, and Forney is forced to come to her aid.

Two months after she'd been abandoned, Novalee goes into labor in the middle of the night inside of the closed Walmart. She tries to choose a name for her baby before it comes, but the pain of her labor quickly overtakes her. Forney, who had become only recently aware that she had been living in the store, breaks a window and helps her give birth. After she delivers a baby girl, she recalls Moses Whitecotton's advice on picking a strong name for her child, and names her Americus.

At the hospital, she befriends her nurse, Lexi Coop, who has four children with three different fathers. Novalee soon finds out that she and her baby are famous and in the news, and begins receiving letters and money from strangers in the mail. Sam Walton, the patriarch of the Walton family and owner of the Walmart corporation, comes in to visit Novalee and offer her a job at the store where she gave birth, which Novalee accepts after some hesitation about people's reactions to her. Novalee's mother, Momma Nell, finds out from the television report what had happened and which hospital Novalee is convalescing in, and arrives ostensibly to offer her support. Novalee is hesitantly grateful to accept the help and hands over the money she'd received from Sam Walton and her supporters so that her mother can buy what they need for the baby. But the next morning, when Momma Nell doesn't return, Novalee fully accepts that her mother and the money are gone for good.