A satisfying and unexpectedly soulful pioneer tale.
Avery (A Curious Host, 2016, etc.) reissues a novella first published more than a decade ago: a story about an intriguing stranger who arrives in a small Midwestern prairie town during the 19th century.
On a hot July evening, a tired Theodore Grant rides his two-mule–driven wagon into the dusty town of Cottonwood. He has traveled from Massachusetts, bringing with him 60 jars. His intent is to pick up a letter that should be waiting for him, drop off his mysterious jars, and then head to Santa Fe. The town, in which “not much ever happened that wasn’t planned,” is aflutter with news of his appearance. But beneath Grant’s well-mannered exterior, he carries a dark secret, and over the next 36 hours, he will experience both hope and despair before discovering his path to redemption. Whether through serendipity or providence, he meets Mrs. Quinn, owner of the general store, which also conveniently serves as the post office. During a late-night conversation, Grant shares with her the emotional and physical baggage that has accompanied him on his long journey from the frigid shores of the Northeast coast. In the process, he not only frees himself, but also provides Mrs. Quinn with a missing piece of her own family history. Avery’s tightly crafted chapters move the storyline quickly, but she lingers in them just long enough to efficiently capture small, ordinary details that vividly set the stage for each scene: “The uneven planks” of the wooden sidewalk “began to make walking difficult, so he stepped off to the adjacent mud baked-street and continued.” Describing a rush of gossipy excitement, she writes: “Questions flew about like sparks in a dry prairie fire.” There is no time for character development, yet with few words Avery successfully communicates the essential qualities of the primary players, from Mrs. Maggie Richmond’s pride in her hotel and the cuisine she serves to Grant’s loneliness. Referring to his two mules, he says simply: “They’re the only family I’ve got.”
A satisfying and unexpectedly soulful pioneer tale.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4392-1584-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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