by Janelle Diller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 2016
Peopled with some enduring characters and driven by both compassion and sarcasm, this is a vivid, surprising page-turner.
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A dark secret hides just below the surface in Sweethome, Kansas, where the Great Depression and drought have brought poverty and despair to the peaceful Mennonite farming community.
Diller (The Virus, 2015), a member of the Mennonite Church, grew up in Kansas listening to the Depression-era and World War II stories her parents and grandparents shared over the years. She is also well-versed in Mennonite history going back to the 16th century. All this forms the backdrop for a poignant novel that depicts the gradual breakdowns of three fictional families: the Peters, Schmidts, and Yoders. It is a testament to Diller’s authorial strength that, through the despair, she weaves in disarming humor: “Jesus kept saving and so did we. We saved string, found new uses for baling wire, and recycled everything.” Catherine “Cat” Peters, born in 1925, 6 or 7 years old when the novel opens, is wonderfully three-dimensional. Narrating this first-person retrospective, Cat sounds much like Diller herself: “I come from a long line of storytellers….I can never just tell you something. I have to give you the context.” She begins her tale with a ride into town with her father to make the final payment on his farm. It’s a joyous moment. But on the way home, they run into Elroy Perky, who announces that the Sweethome bank has just closed—permanently. Cat’s father, Ezra, pulls out the paid mortgage documents and sees that the bank has not signed them. Distraught, he drives to the home of Simon Yoder to enlist his help. Simon is the pride and joy of Sweethome, wealthy, philanthropic, and powerful. He immediately agrees to accompany Ezra to the home of banker Bernard Hibble—minutes before a tragedy occurs. And so begins almost a decade of struggle. Yoder’s generosity is the only source of hope for the financially and emotionally beaten-down Mennonites. He doles out small but critical amounts of cash and employs some of the teenagers. In return, he receives undying gratitude and less savory perks.
Peopled with some enduring characters and driven by both compassion and sarcasm, this is a vivid, surprising page-turner.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-936376-21-6
Page Count: 338
Publisher: WorldTrek Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Susan Crandall ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 2, 2013
Young Starla is an endearing character whose spirited observations propel this nicely crafted story.
Crandall (Sleep No More, 2010, etc.) delivers big with a coming-of-age story set in Mississippi in 1963 and narrated by a precocious 9-year-old.
Due in part to tradition, intimidation and Jim Crow laws, segregation is very much ingrained into the Southern lifestyle in 1963. Few white children question these rules, least of all Starla Caudelle, a spunky young girl who lives with her stern, unbending grandmother in Cayuga Springs, Miss., and spends an inordinate amount of time on restriction for her impulsive actions and sassy mouth. Starla’s dad works on an oil rig in the Gulf; her mother abandoned the family to seek fame and fortune in Nashville when Starla was 3. In her youthful innocence, Starla’s convinced that her mother’s now a big singing star, and she dreams of living with her again one day, a day that seems to be coming more quickly than Starla’s anticipated. Convinced that her latest infraction is about to land her in reform school, Starla decides she has no recourse but to run away from home and head to Nashville to find her mom. Ill prepared for the long, hot walk and with little concept of time and distance, Starla becomes weak and dehydrated as she trudges along the hot, dusty road. She gladly accepts water and a ride from Eula, a black woman driving an old truck, and finds, to her surprise, that she’s not Eula’s only passenger. Inside a basket is a young white baby, an infant supposedly abandoned outside a church, whom Eula calls James. Although Eula doesn’t intend to drive all the way to Nashville, when she shows up at her home with the two white children, a confrontation with her husband forces her into becoming a part of Starla’s journey, and it’s this journey that creates strong bonds between the two: They help each other face fears as they each become stronger individuals. Starla learns firsthand about the abuse and scare tactics used to intimidate blacks and the skewed assumption of many whites that blacks are inferior beings. Assisted by a black schoolteacher who shows Eula and Starla unconditional acceptance and kindness, both ultimately learn that love and kinship transcend blood ties and skin color.
Young Starla is an endearing character whose spirited observations propel this nicely crafted story.Pub Date: July 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4767-0772-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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by Anthony Doerr ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2014
Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters.
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Doerr presents us with two intricate stories, both of which take place during World War II; late in the novel, inevitably, they intersect.
In August 1944, Marie-Laure LeBlanc is a blind 16-year-old living in the walled port city of Saint-Malo in Brittany and hoping to escape the effects of Allied bombing. D-Day took place two months earlier, and Cherbourg, Caen and Rennes have already been liberated. She’s taken refuge in this city with her great-uncle Etienne, at first a fairly frightening figure to her. Marie-Laure’s father was a locksmith and craftsman who made scale models of cities that Marie-Laure studied so she could travel around on her own. He also crafted clever and intricate boxes, within which treasures could be hidden. Parallel to the story of Marie-Laure we meet Werner and Jutta Pfennig, a brother and sister, both orphans who have been raised in the Children’s House outside Essen, in Germany. Through flashbacks we learn that Werner had been a curious and bright child who developed an obsession with radio transmitters and receivers, both in their infancies during this period. Eventually, Werner goes to a select technical school and then, at 18, into the Wehrmacht, where his technical aptitudes are recognized and he’s put on a team trying to track down illegal radio transmissions. Etienne and Marie-Laure are responsible for some of these transmissions, but Werner is intrigued since what she’s broadcasting is innocent—she shares her passion for Jules Verne by reading aloud 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A further subplot involves Marie-Laure’s father’s having hidden a valuable diamond, one being tracked down by Reinhold von Rumpel, a relentless German sergeant-major.
Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-4658-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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