PEACE CORNER

Kindness attempts to overcome hatred in a small red-state village in Chiddister’s novel.

The titular corner in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is where activists, largely elderly and Quaker, gather to protest the policies of the second Trump administration. At the center of the narrative is Olympia, an 81-year-old retired doctor who leads the protests against the divisions in her country, enflamed by Trump’s policies. In the book’s opening chapter, Olympia uses a tree limb to damage the pickup truck of one Howie Dewey, a Trump supporter who stops to break up the rally. Olympia’s life has been coming unraveled lately, making her more isolated. First, she lost her best friend, Laurie, to cancer. Later, her closest companion, her dog Lizzie, died of old age. Remaining in her orbit are Cary, a 90-year-old former lawyer who recently joined the protests, and Avery, a student who admires Olympia’s spirit. Drawing all these characters together is Claude, a jovial Haitian immigrant. Because of Trump’s draconian immigration crackdown, Claude and his extended family are at risk of being deported by ICE. Led by Olympia, the citizens, Quakers and non-Quakers alike, band together in a modern-day Underground Railroad, helping Claude and other Haitians obtain food and provisions and keeping them from the prying eyes of ICE. Their small individual contributions, although seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, yield big results for those in need. Chiddister (One More Day, 2021) delivers a stark message: With the legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government largely paralyzed, it’s up to the people themselves to battle oppression in whatever ways they can. With mainstream media hampered by new oligarchal leadership with their own agendas, the author suggests that those at the grassroots level must sound the alarm and push for change. Chiddister admirably features social outsiders as her messengers: lonely seniors, a timid student, a delivery man with a disabled sibling who’s barely scraping by. While none of these people can effect major national reform, they can push to improve life for those around them. Better yet, the author makes their constructive actions seem credible, not fantastical. In a nutshell, Chiddister has created an engaging, small-town tale of hope.

A winning clarion call for change set in Anytown, USA.