Loblolly by Frank Gilbreth

Good.

Hardcover with dustjacket.

IF you think Southern aristocrats are effete, you are in for a happy surprise when you meet Duchess (or Grandma, Granny, Big Mama — all titles she deplored) Monette and her brother, Eleck Henri.
During the depression of the 'thirties, two children, twelve-year-old Izard and beautiful fifteen-year-old Julien, are orphaned in New York, forced to head south and move in with Grandmother in Charleston, South Carolina.
Duchess Monette is determined to preserve the Southern heritage. Current projects include chaining herself to the Ashley Avenue Oak to prevent its destruction by wanton traffic experts; singing off-key solos for the Organization to Perpetuate Artifacts, and Negro Hymns to the President and Mrs. Roosevelt; restoring the ancient Foot Street Theatre.
Eleck is a bicycle-riding author, currently working on a sixteen-volume history of the Loblolly plantation (17101865). It is with his assistance, while Grandmother is away, that the children try to recoup the family fortunes.