Dont Forget Me, Little Bessie, James Lee Burke
Dont Forget Me, Little Bessie, James Lee Burke
List: $25.99 | Sale: $17.68
Club: $12.99

Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie

Author: James Lee Burke

Series: Holland Family Series

Narrator: Amanda Stribling

Unabridged: 10 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/03/2025


Synopsis

Bestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie Holland.

At the beginning of the 20th century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world.

Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie’s spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy.

A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.

About James Lee Burke

American mystery author, James Lee Burke, was born in Houston, Texas, explaining why most of the lead characters in his novels are Texan. He has won two Edgar awards, which is a very rare experience, and is a bestselling author of two short story collections and over thirty novels. Burke is best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. His Edgar Awards were for Black Cherry and Cimarron Rose. Two of his series were made into screen plays with each movie having a-list actors playing the Robicheaux character (Alec Baldwin - Heaven's Prisoners, and Tommy Lee Jones- In the Electric Mist).

A writer must usually hold down other employment while they attempt to gain a degree of following readers. Burke's various jobs included.......truck driver, newspaper reporter, social worker, land surveyor, unemployment system employee, Job Corps worker, teacher, and finally, novelist.

Burke lives in Montana with his wife, Pearl, two daughters, and four grandchildren. His favorite advice was given by Irving Stone, when Burke was nineteen.......... "Never write a story to pay your gas bill......if you do, be assured your utilities will be turned off".


Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on June 05, 2025

At this advanced stage of his career, James Lee Burke has hit another high point. “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” is an arresting portrait of Bessie Mae Holland, a resilient 14-year-old girl navigating the harsh realities of World War I-era Texas. Like Burke’s signature male characters, Bessie exhi......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on June 06, 2025

To me, reading a JLB novel often feels like examining a riddle I know I’ll never solve. But in the end, I don’t really think that matters, such is my appreciation for the scale and the darkness of his stories and the complex and often violent figures he introduces me to. But most of all, I simply lo......more

Goodreads review by Jo on June 05, 2025

Happy publication day 🎉🥳🎧 This is a first read for me from the author, and while I acknowledge that it’s part of a series it worked perfectly well as a standalone title, for me. Don’t forget me, little Bessie is a bloody and violent historical fiction with a supernatural twist. It did take me a while......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on May 10, 2025

Bessie Holland is Scout raised by Dirty Harry and she narrates one of the most moving, violent novels of the year. We first become enamored by our willful teenage protagonist in a ferocious 1920s Texas revenge story. The setting shifts to darkly atmospheric NYC with a gangster-loaded theme, and for t......more

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on June 04, 2025

This is the first book I've read by James Lee Burke, although I have a few others marked 'to-be-read' and will now make a point of getting around to those since this one was so good. It's the fifth book in the Holland Family series but can definitely be read as a standalone. The story is set near Sa......more