Everyone has a different definition of wonderful. To some, it may just be being satisfied with everyday life, having a loving family, a comfortable life and enough money to feel safe. Others spend their whole lives looking for wonderful and never find it. Some find it in a single moment, some in sleeping in a truck bed under and above some old quilts, some look to Hollywood and the glamorous stars to find it. In Robert Goolrick’s second novel (after A Reliable Wife) Charlie Beale arrives in Brownsburg, Virginia, just after the second World War with only two suitcases, one containing his worldly possessions, including a set of butcher’s knives and the other filled with cash. Strangers are rare in this small town and the locals view Charlie with caution and skepticism. Local butcher Will Haislett agrees to give Charlie a try as an assistant; Will’s wife Alma thinks Charlie’s a good, lonely man who needs a fresh start and their five year old son Sam worships Charlie, Beebo as he calls him, from the moment he sets eyes on him. Slowly and quietly, Charlie begins to work his way into the community, but when he meets Sylvan Glass, the young wife of the richest man in town, many years her elder, he feels a passion he never knew possible and sets in motion a string of events that will change Brownsburg for everyone, but especially for Sam who will live in this town his birth long after everyone else is gone. Sam tells the story in retrospect, reflecting on how events change over the years, how what we remember becomes inaccurate, or events are recalled based on stories we’ve heard others tell or on a feeling we have when the details escape us. With careful, quiet prose, a story unfolds and quickly rises to a feverous pitch, sneaking up, almost without warning. A haunting tale where the aftermath is in the telling as a young boy tries to make sense of what others want to forget. A beautifully written novel that is hard to put down, even after it is long over.
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