Juliana Goes is the story of a young woman, a gymnast, who moves to a small town in Mississippi, where she finds herself amidst a new set of people. There, she becomes a member of the Town Council and teaches school in the evenings, but when the town’s resident Mr. Mills goes missing, she takes on the role of an investigator in search of her old friend. This becomes harder when Mills is framed for the murder of a local store owner and his family, forcing Juliana to learn the truth about her life and identity. The mystery is compounded when Mills’s own murder mystery unravels and he is once again the prime suspect.
The novel starts off with a fast paced introduction which gives us brief descriptions of Juliana’s background and what happened between her and Mr. Mills. The way the story is told is also done excellently. We get to know little bits of information about each of the characters, their relationships, how they interact with each other and the background of each of them. All this is interspersed with Juliana’s musings on her love life, family life and how she feels about being a woman, which is a theme that runs throughout the novel.
The main theme of the story however is gender roles, which are heavily tipped in favour of the female. It’s always been stereotypical that a woman is clever, brave, beautiful, and good at needlework while a boy tends to be more rough around the edges and likes to join gangs. However, in this book we are introduced to a young woman who is not stereotypical at all. She is intelligent, tough, and doesn’t like to be embarrassed in front of her friends or by her father, even when it isn’t her turn to do the talking. The way the author introduces us to this young woman’s character adds an unexpected depth to the story and makes the reader root for this girl as if she was an actual human being.