Dionna L. Mann: Salutations. I'm Dionna L. Mann. The L in my name stands for Louise. It was my grandmother's middle name, my aunt's middle name, and my eldest daughter's middle name too. My grandmother's full name was Nannie Louise Flagg Hemingway, but we called her Gah. It was Gah who taught my mother, who taught me to make chicken and dumplings in a Southern style way with the dumpling dough rolled out flat and cut into rectangles.

My main character, Allie, makes her chicken and dumplings the same way. Here's a fun fact about Gah. She and singer Tina Turner were cousins, both born in Nutbush, Tennessee. Too bad I didn't inherit those Tina Turner dance moves.