Connie J Bettich

Delta Dawn Connie J Bettich

This fictional novel is loosely based on the popular 1972, chart topping, and intriguing song, Delta Dawn, by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey. Forty-one-year-old Delta Dawn was a victim of anoxia at birth, which left her with learning disabilities and a low-normal IQ. She only finished the sixth grade. Could she hold down her waitressing job at the local diner or would she be too distracted when her handsome Tom Easton came in to eat? Tom was the local 'Tom Cat' in Brownsville, so would he even slightly be interested in Delta? Delta's father, Frank Dawn, along with several of the town's citizens, was suffering from Brown Lung Disease from working in the cotton mill for several years and inhaling cotton dust. Eleanor Stively's sister, Mary Jane Stively, was one of those people. Eleanor contacted her lawyer bosses in New York to come down and assess the situation. Would the greedy, abusive mill owner, John Sheffield, Sr., be made to compensate his ill employees and install new safety features, or would he somehow get out of that responsibility?Tom ended up in jail for assaulting the mill owner's son, John Sheffield, Jr., for molesting Delta. How did this affect Delta and Tom's relationship? How did Delta's abduction by some local teenagers and the betrayal she suffered from a supposedly good friend affect her? How did Delta demonstrate that she had a golden heart and why is that even important?