ONE SUMMER AT HELGEVELD FARM

A boy's summer on an Illinois farm gives him memories to last a lifetime in Blois’ historical novel.

It’s 1917, and Will Parlor, from Pittsburgh, is sent with his parents’ blessing to spend a summer working on the Helgevelds’ large and prosperous farm in central Illinois. The Helgevelds are salt of the earth; they hire a bunch of boys every summer to earn money and hopefully learn the virtues of hard work. Others are two Black boys, Isaiah and Moses Butler from Alabama, and Roy March, the requisite rotten apple. Roy is lazy, sneaky, and hate-filled. The Butler boys are a real boon because their granddad had taught them how to fix practically anything. Alwin, the oldest Helgeveld son, is essentially the foreman, no nonsense but fair; Vlinder is his beautiful and wise younger sister, and eventually she and Will fall in love. There is happiness and also tragedy along the way. At summer’s end, Will vows to Vlinder to come back next year. But then life, as they say, happens—like the Spanish flu and the death of Will’s brother and father, so Will has to be the man in the family and take over the family’s feed and supply stores. The years roll by and successes and failures come and go. But always in Will’s heart there are “bits of emptiness that…resurface unannounced.” Then one day in 1949, on a busy street in Chicago, Will sees a young woman—someone who conjures up old memories—from across the street who will change his life forever. This is a compulsively readable feel-good novel and an impressively written debut (and Blois hints at more to come). Is there too much wish fulfillment here? Maybe. Will Vlinder and Will live happily ever after? Whatever the case, the reader will be riveted throughout.

A sensitively conceived, well-written book that will dazzle lovers of historical family intrigue.