Just Jennifer

Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry (Crown, February 2011)


While Troy Chance is returning to Lake Placid on a Lake Champlain ferry she sees a bundle being thrown in the frigid lake from a ferry going in the opposite direction. Almost instinctively she realizes the bundle is a child and she dives in after it even though she is not a strong swimmer. She rescues a little boy of about five or six years old from the frigid water and finds herself fiercely attached to the boy and determined to allow no further harm to come to him. As a freelance writer she is able to make a trip to Canada where she finds the boy’s father, a wealthy businessman. Satisfied that Philippe had nothing to do with Paul’s abduction, Troy brings Paul back to his father’s house; his father has moved during the time that Paul and his mother were abducted (his mother is presumed dead) and asks Troy to stay and help Paul get acclimated to his new home as he seems as attached to Troy as she is to him. The longer Troy stays with Philippe and Paul, the more attached she grows to both of them and the deeper she gets into the mystery of what happened to Paul and his mother; before long she finds herself chasing kidnappers and murderers back to Vermont, all the while missing what is write before her. Though the plot is interesting, the pacing is a little slow and the tension never quite builds, the story lacking the suspense it could have in a more seasoned writer’s hands.

Just Jennifer

Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau (Harper Perennial, January 2011)


Thre is a fine line between dysfunctional and eccentric and the Steins are carefully balanced, taking turns dipping from one side to the other. When Louise has a heart attack, Buzzy calls their three children against her wishes and Anna, Portia and Emery, with boyfriend Alejandro in tow, descend on the Santa Barbara hospital room where they sort out their adult lives and reminisce, perhaps looking for answers, in their childhood. The scene shifts effortlessly between the present day, Anna unhappy in her marriage having many affairs, Portia’s marriage on the brink of divorce, and Emery and Alejandro deliriously happy, on the brink of fatherhood if one of the girls will donate their eggs to their progeny, and the trio’s childhood which was anything but traditional. Each character, the children especially, are drawn with a clarity that will allow you to see how each arrived at their current place in life and where they can go from there. Many difficult subjects are touched on, anorexia, sex addiction, homosexuality and drug and alcohol use, but each is handled with such aplomb that it seems perfectly natural for this family as they work their way through these issues. The writing is honest and poignant, unforgiving and tender creating an unforgettable family that you will never wish is your own, but that you will be glad to visit over and over.

Just Jennifer

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love by Andrew Shaffer (Harper Perennial, December 2010)


A short, entertaining book Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love briefly outlines the love lives of some of the world’s greatest thinkers, ancient and modern, proving that great thinkers definitely do not make the best loves. From Diogenes to Augustine of Hippo to Abelard, Nietzsche and Ayn Rand, Shaffer discusses the successes, and more often failures, of each philosopher. Many of the love affairs ended in the death of one of the partners, several resulted in illegitimate children and some, in the case of Simone de Beauvier and Jean Paul Satre, lovers for 51 years, the adoption of their younger lovers, in Beauvier’s case, her lesbian lovers. Fact is often stranger than fiction as illustrated in these short vignettes. Each section ends with “in his [her] own words” and provides an appropriate quote. The sections are heavily, and often humorously, footnoted. The entries are arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically adding to the lighthearted feel of the entire affair.

Just Jennifer

A Cup of Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez (Ballantine, January 25, 2011)


Expat Sunny is an American running a coffee shop in Kabul that caterers to other Americans living in Afghanistan. When she finds Yazmina seeking refuge at a local shelter, Sunny takes the young woman under her wing and sets out to learn the secrets that keep Yazmina’s eyes from smiling when the her mouth smiles. As other Western women, including Candace, a wealthy American who is not sure what to do with her new found freedom and all her money, and Isabel, a British journalist who has secrets of her own. Also in Sunny’s life is Halajan, an older, local woman who has lived a traditional life, but who has an independent side to her and also has a long-kept secret that she fears would bring shame to her son who is the security guard for Sunny’s restaurant. As all of these women converge on Sunny’s oasis, amidst the threats, bombing and destruction of Kabul, they turn to each other and inside themselves to find the strength to continue and to make their lives better. Sunny, out of all the characters, is the least developed; she often seems as she is putting up a false, sunny front for those around her. It is when things at the café get their worst that Sunny’s true colors begin to shine and we begin to see what she is truly capable of. A Cup of Friendship will be the jumping off point for many to learn more about modern day Kabul and women’s roles in Afghanistan, both women native to the country, those working in it temporarily and those born elsewhere who are making it their home. Sunny’s coffee shop is welcoming and inviting, the kind of place you will want to tuck into and visit often.

Just Jennifer

Crossing the Heart of Africa: an Odyssey of Love and Adventure by Julian Smith (Harper Perennial, December 2010)


In 1898, British adventurer Ewart Grogan began his quest to navigate the length of Africa from Cape Town to Cairo for the love of a woman. The step-father of Ewart’s beloved Gertrude would not allow them to marry as he considered Ewart an unsuitable husband for his step-daughter. Ewart decided to prove his worthiness by making this cross-continental trip. Over one hundred years later, travel writer Julian Smith is about to marry Laura, who he knows is the best woman for him, but he has doubts about himself and the concept of forever. Neatly weaving the narrative of his modern day (or as modern as possible through the jungles of Africa) with Grogan’s larger than life adventure, Julian Smith explores the wilderness, people and politics of Africa and its small, ever-changing nations at the dawn of the 20th century and just past the turn of the 21st century. These two stories are engaging enough on their own, but Smith adds an even more personal touch as he recounts, often in great detail, the life of his relationship with his soon to be wife. He writes of this journey with uncanny honesty, taking responsibility for his missteps and candidly expressing his self doubt. Crossing the Heart of Africa will appeal to the adventurer and romantic in all of us.

Just Jennifer

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan (Greenwillow, January 2011)


After college, Conor Grennan got a job grew bored of and decided to ditch everything for an around the world adventure. Lest his odyssey make him seem too self absorbed and frivolous, Conor’s first leg of his journey is a three-month volunteer stint at an orphanage in Nepal---surely the Civil War the brochure cautions about can’t be all that bad. Conor quickly learns that conditions are much worse in Nepal than he imagined: there is abject poverty throughout the country; many people live in regions of the country that are for the most part unreachable; the Maoist rebels control much of the country and have many people living in fear for their lives and what little freedoms they have. What greets Conor at the orphanage is the innocence and hope that only young children can offer. He learns that most of the children are not orphaned but have been rescued from traffickers. Conor plans on putting in his three months at the orphanage and moving on, but the children affect him in ways that surprise him. After he completes his originally planned trip, he finds himself returning to Nepal, finding more children that need his help. He sets up a non-profit organization, Next Generation Nepal that not only provides the funding to help reunite children with their families, but runs a home in Nepal for these displaced children. As Conor risks his safety as he treks into the most remote regions of the country to find these children’s families, he learns a great deal about himself, but he also learns that many of these parents truly believed that these children would have a better life when they paid the trafficker to take them, and that they may not be able to care for them and offer them what Conor’s orphanage, and others like it, can offer the children Conor’s grace and humor and willingness to admit his shortcomings offer brief respites to the otherwise grave conditions described in this book. This book will be an eye-opening experience to readers who are unfamiliar with Nepal or know it only as the country where Mount Everest can be found or as a spiritual retreat. Readers will be touched by the children and the way they changed Conor’s life as much as he has changed theirs. Fans of Three Cups of Tea will want to put this at the top of their New Year’s “to be read” list.

Just Jennifer

The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards (Viking, January 4, 2011)


Lucy, at a pivotal moment in her young life returns to her home town in upstate New York when her mother fractures her wrist in a car accident. Leaving The Lake of Dreams shortly after her father’s death ten years earlier, Lucy has a lot of loose ends and ghosts awaiting her return and quickly sees that life has continued in her absence, leaving her many things to grapple with. Lucy must face the unresolved relationships she left: with her mother, her brother Blake and Keegan Falls, the one that might have been, but now never can be. Lucy has not put down roots in the past ten years, though she has been living in Japan with Yoshi whom she met while doing humanitarian work in Jakarta. In spite of her wanderlust and unwillingness to face past ghosts, Lucy begins a quest to learn about her family’s past when she finds a cache of letters and suffragette documents in an old window seat along with a small blanket with a very unusual border. This motif is also found in stained glass windows in a local chapel that may be torn down if the local wetlands are developed and not preserved. Lucy searches for clues to her family using the stained glass windows and their creator, certain her long-lost great aunt was involved with the artist. There is a lot going on in this book, a mysterious ancestors, a grieving family, lost loves and land preservation (even that has two sides, the Native Americans who claim it and the environmentalists who want to save the local flora and fauna) but Kim Edwards ties all the sub-plots together neatly, if a little too sweetly at times. Fans of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter have been waiting a long time for Edwards’s next book and most will not be disappointed.

Another novel, completely different in its tone, released this month also has stained glass and women’s rights at the turn of the twentieth century at its forefront.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland (Random House, January 11, 2011) takes us to the Gilded Age and explores the life of Clara Driscoll who worked for Louis Comfort Tiffany in his factory and is said to have come up with the idea for the now ubiquitous Tiffany lamp shade that is so familiar. Carefully researched, this book not only explores the lives of working women at the dawn of the new century, but also discusses other social issues, such as the living and working conditions of the poorest of the poor. Larger than life characters and descriptions of neighborhoods of Manhattan from the Upper West Side to the Fifth Avenue Mansions to the early Bohemians add to a rich atmosphere. Clara is fully realized as she deals with being a widow and learns to fit into a man’s world, leading her life as she wishes and a life that will make her happy and fulfilled.

Just Jennifer

666 Park Avenue by Gabriella Pierce (Avon, February 2011)

Jane Boyle is leading quiet but satisfactory life in Paris until Malcolm Doran, New York’s most eligible bachelor, sweeps her off of her feet and carries her back to New York as his fiancé where she meets her future mother-in-law who she learns is an honest-to-goodness witch, and not the good kind. The more Jane learns about her fiancé and his family, and her own past, the more she realizes the dangerous course she has set herself on. Without putting her New York friends in more danger than necessary she slowly puts the pieces together and soon doesn’t realize who she can trust; before she knows it, it’s too late and she is Mrs. Malcolm Doran and in a lot of danger. A fun mix of romance, the supernatural and Manhattan socialites, this is ripe for a sequel.

Just Jennifer

Hating Olivia by Mark SaFranko (Harper Perennial, 2010)

Max Zajack’s life as a struggling writer and musician is pretty much a disaster; he lives in cheap, roach-infested rooms & he can’t ever keep his dead end jobs long enough to make ends meet, but when he meets Olivia at a club one night, he thinks his life is taking a change for the better, when in reality, Max’s life begins a downward slide, about to spiral completely out of control. Max is completely obsessed with Olivia, and she with him. Olivia becomes domineering, controlling and emotionally manipulative leaving Max no way out. There is frequent, rough sex, volatile arguments, threats of leaving and then rough sex again, to prove, each to the other, that they can’t live without the other. As these two lost souls navigate life together, there is violence and unhappiness, but there is also a strange kind of love that you feel you will die without, if you don’t die in the living it. Not angry in its telling, Max relates an intense and visceral tale, exploring a love so obsessed it is ultimately destructive. The writing is edgy, the language raw, though there are carefully constructed, gentle sentences “…late summer passed like a lilac-scented dream…autumn had tossed its longer nights over the world like a soft blanket…” remind you that this is a love story after all.

Just Jennifer

 

Brooklyn Story by Suzanne Corso (Gallery, December 2010)

Set in 1978 Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Story is a coming-of-age tale about Samantha Bonti who is half-Jewish, half-Italian living in an Italian neighborhood, longing to be on the other side of the fabled bridge.  Samantha lives with her Jewish grandmother and her converted-to-Catholicism mother who has a substance abuse problem and is on welfare, to the embarrassment of Samantha.  Her best friend Janice sets fifteen-year-old Samantha up with Tony, half-Dutch, half-Italian, all twenty-years old, the best friend of Janice’s boyfriend Richie.  Tony is very good looking, and always has money he’s willing to spend on Samantha, and Samantha is quickly drawn into his world, a world that is not all glitz and glamour as it first appears.  Samantha accepts Tony’s overbearing ways as proof of his affection for her, but when he turns violent, she realizes she is in over her head and looks to the adults in her life, including an English teacher and a nurturing priest, for guidance. 

The story becomes engaging, but Samantha’s strength of character and determination is hard to believe at times, especially given her young age.  Certain things in life can make you grow up quickly, but I didn’t see that growth in Samantha, though she is an admirable young woman.  The setting is very authentic and anyone who remembers 1978, especially the city, will remember the same sights and sounds Samantha describes.  Brooklyn Story ends with hope for Samantha, leaving readers wondering what she will do next; a sequel is in the works according to the author’s website, which includes questions for discussion.

Just Jennifer

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard (Ecco, January 2011)


Nora Lindell disappeared the Halloween she was sixteen, leaving in her wake a neighborhood unsure of what happened, and a group of boys on whom she had a very lasting effect. This sparse, thoughtful novel is told in the first person plural, as the boys who were Nora’s playmates and classmates work through this event that haunts them, even into adulthood. Nora disappeared without a trace, and her true fate is never learned, but as each boy, or man, reflects on her disappearance, conjectures are made, some based on unconfirmed “Nora sightings” over the years. The enclave which has kept the boys safe for the first part of their lives now has a chink in its armor and everyone is left wondering what happened, how could it have been prevented and who will be next? With an economy of words, none wasted, the family life of each boy as a child and as an adult is revealed, as is the boy’s relationship with Nora. The boys become very protective of the other girls in their life after this incident, but the focus on the story is the boys and how Nora affected them before and after her disappearance. Nora becomes a symbol for what the boys have left behind as they grow into adulthood and for the part of each of us that will stay sixteen forever in our minds.

Just Jennifer

 

You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon (Amy Einhorn Books, January 2011)

In eight short stories, connected through families at Fort Hood, Texas, Siobhan Fallon explores soldiers being deployed, deployed and returning home from deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan and the effects it has on the soldiers and the families they leave behind.  Trying to fit in as a military wife, suspected infidelity, home and at war, cancer, relationships, children and the death of a spouse are all explored with sensitivity and grace, making the reader part of the story, not left feeling as if they were looking in on something.  Fallon doesn’t leave any emotion out:  loneliness, sadness, frustration, anger or despair; she writes with such intimacy that the reader becomes a part of Meg, David Mogeson or Carla’s world for a short time.  Life in the military, especially for civilian wives, is largely unknown to the rest of us.  New fiction author Siobhan Fallon gives us a glimpse into this unknown world and we leave a bit in awe of these men and women.

Just Jennifer

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly (Pamela Dorman Books, January 2011)


Karen Clarke has lived a predictable, if somewhat boring, life until the summer she is twenty. Karen is just finishing up her degree as a multi-language linguist and meets Biba who seems exotic by comparison. Karen becomes totally absorbed with Biba’s seemingly carefree, bohemian lifestyle and allows herself to become immersed in that life which includes Biba’s older brother Rex. Rex and Biba’s casual lifestyle belies the underlying emotions surrounding their parents and lives growing up. Told ten years after the fateful summer, as Rex is being released from jail, the story seamlessly moves between Rex’s reassimilation into Karen, and their nine-year-old daughter’s life, and the summer when events spiraled out of control, ultimately causing Rex to go to jail and Biba to disappear from Karen’s life.  The plot begins quietly, and quickly creeps up; before you realize it, you are totally immersed in Biba and Karen’s worlds. The pacing of the ending is a bit too fast and is over before you know it, but under the circumstances, that it probably all for the best.

Just Jennifer

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (Ballantine, March 2011)


Ernest Hemingway lived a colorful, if angst ridden life; his early years are chronicled in this new novel, beginning in 1920 Chicago and tracing Hemingway’s rise to published author, following Hemingway and his first wife to Paris where they involve themselves with the artsy American ex-patriots, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, the Fitzgeralds and the Murphy’s, all living in Paris. Ernest meets his first wife Hadley when she is twenty-nine and he is twenty –one. After an intense, whirlwind courtship, the two marry and move to Europe with Paris as their base, traveling the continent while Ernest writes and begins his transformation into the great American novelist Papa Hemingway.

This book evokes the literary scene in Paris between the wars so realistically it is as if you have stopped for tea or scotch with one of the great writers of the time. Not only is the setting marvelous, but the transformation of Hadley of Hadley from an unsure homebody to the wife of a well-known figure, to a strong, independent woman who knows her own mind. McLain’s writing is so intimate that you will become immersed in Hadley and Ernest’s world and find the time passing much too quickly.

Just Jennifer

Girls to the Front: the True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution by Sara Marcus (Harper Perennial, October 2010)


In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, a group of girls, mostly based in Olympia, Washington (centered around Evergreen State College) and Washington, D.C. began looking for a safe place where they could talk about anything they wanted, including topics such as abuse, incest and rape. Many just wanted a place to validate their feelings that they were as good as boys and to express their frustration. Starting as a series of alternative girl bands, rising out of the punk movement, these girls, and young women, began to find each other, write zines, play music and shout out in an attempt to be heard. Sara Marcus, in high school at the time, was such a girl looking for a place to explore her feelings and get reassurance she wasn’t alone. Three major girl groups grew out of this movement, Bikini Kill, Bratmobile and Heavens to Betsy. Traveling the country, these groups gave girls an outlet to express themselves and gave a voice to the then called Riot Grrrl movement. By the mid-1990’s, the movement had mostly died out; it never caught on in most major cities including New York City and Chicago, and without the mass communication afforded by the internet, the girls had to rely on word of mouth and traditional means of communication to spread their message. The history of this movement is thoroughly documented with a large notes section and an appendix updating the status of the major players mentioned throughout. This is an interesting, little know, part of feminist history, and example of how a small group, girls and young women in this case, can spread their message and make themselves heard.

Just Jennifer

Running the Books by Avi Steinberg (Random House, October 2010)


You’ve got to love a book that begins “Pimps make the best librarians.” and I did. After Avi Steinberg gave up the Yeshiva for Harvard his main goal was finding a job with medical benefits. Writing obituaries was fun for awhile, but the pay was lousy as were the benefits, so when Avi saw an ad for a second shift prison librarian at a prison library he figured this was something he could do. He is hired despite his lack of library degree and given very little introduction before he found himself in charge of the afternoon/evening shift at the prison library, including several inmate employees and a women’s inmate writing group. As Avi spends his days learning his job, learning about the prison culture and learning each inmate’s story. He finds himself thinking about his life, his drifting away from his Orthodox upbringing, and his relationship with girlfriend Kayla as he spends time with men and women who have nothing but time. He marvels at their resourcefulness and their often upbeat take on their situations, always hoping for something that will help improve things for them or help them find a way to secure their freedom. With wry, insightful observations, Avi learns how to play the game, but then wonders if he really wants to.

Just Jennifer

 The Night Season by Chelsea Cain (Minotaur, March 2011)

Gretchen Lowell is locked safely away in maximum security, but is Detective Archie Sheridan safe? Archie has been slowly recovering, mind and body, from his intense relationship with serial killer Gretchen Lowell is has almost killed him on more than one occasion, but who has drawn him into a web of a love-hate relationship that Archie almost did not escape.  It has been raining in Portland and flooding has begun, the worst flooding since Vanport, a city just north of Portland was wiped out in a 1948 flood.  The flood has turned up a few dead bodies, one of which that is the suspected remains of a 1948 flood victim.  The others are labeled accidental deaths until a small mark is noticed on the palm of each victim and a small key is found on their person.  Now with the help of wise-cracking but smart reporter Susan Ward, Archie finds himself searching the now flooded city for a serial killer who may have a little boy he kidnapped two years ago with him, and a very deadly poison.  When the poisonings turn personal, Archie steps up his investigation, fighting his past demons to save those closest to him, those who stood by him when he was in trouble. 

The Night Season is not as graphic and gory as Chelsea Cain’s previous mysteries, but the mystery is better than ever.  The atmosphere of fear an uncertainty as the Willamette River rises is palpable, and the characters continue to be more developed, especially Susan who takes a starring role in this one.  A cameo by Gretchen reminds everyone that Archie has far from won the battle with her, even as he is winning it with himself.

Just Jennifer

 The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (Amy Einhorn, January 2011)

Any novel whose motto is “There is no problem a library card can’t solve” has the potential to be a favorite among die-hard readers, but The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown exceeds all expectations.  The Andreas sisters, named by their father, a Shakespearean professor, after three of Shakespeare’s heroines, Rosalind, Bianca (Bean) and Cordelia grew up in an eccentric household full of books and a father who had a Shakespeare quote appropriate for any occasion.  The three young women left their home to find their own way in the world, but as each finds things not to be as they expected and hoped to be, they make their way back home, under the guise of taking care of their ailing mother, to lick their wounds and regroup. 

Rosie, the oldest, a professor at the college in the town where she lived and where her father taught, has taken on the role as primary guardian for the girls’ parents.  Now she is faced with a decision as her fiancé has an opportunity to spend several years at Oxford and wants Rosie to join him.  Rosie is certain that her parents’ lives, and now Bean and Cordy, will fall to pieces if she leaves.  Bean has returned to her Ohio hometown after getting caught up in the glitz and glamour of New York City, and getting caught embezzling from the law firm where she worked.  Cordy has returned home after traveling carefree around the United States with a less than carefree situation.  Now the girls must confront their fears about aging parents, their own fears and self doubts that are holding them back and try to repair their relationships with each other and see each other as individual adults rather than the bossy older sister or the pesty younger sister.

Cleverly and very effectively told in the first person plural, The Weird Sisters is a book you will want to share with everyone, especially your own weird sister.  This point of view allows a very full view of each character and her individual concerns, fears and shortcomings.  Rose, Bean and Cordy are wonderful characters that you will want to help work through their problems and even shake some sense into at times.  Eleanor Brown’s settings, especially those in the Andreas house, are so inviting, you will want to flop down on the couch and pick up the nearest book and start reading where the previous reader left off.  Even the novice Shakespeare fan will love the way the family can casually toss out the Bard’s quotations, even the more obscure, at the appropriate time.  This is one of those rare books that you never want to see end. 

Just Jennifer

Word Made Flesh Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide

by Eva Talmadge & Justin Taylor

Many bookworms have favorite quotes from works of literature or favorite authors that they love to shout about, some so much that they have decided to have these selections tattooed on their body. The choices people have made are fascinating and the execution often intriguing: some have chosen to have entire passages on their body, one person is a visual tribute to Cervantes, and one project Skin : A Mortal Work of Art created by Shelley Jackson is a word per person, creating an entire work when put together, published no where else.


The photographs are clear and well-done, the captions of the people and their tattoos, some a sentence or two, others several pages, descriptive and thought-provoking in their simplicity. If these pictures, captions and short essays don’t inspire you to get your favorite quote or illustration permanently inked on your person, they will certainly inspire you seek out the source of the tattoo and discover something new or revisit an old favorite in a new light.

Just Jennifer

Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Two men: one suspected of a crime he never committed, one hiding from a crime he never meant to commit. Each wrestling with his realty, each looking over his shoulder, one for the past that haunts him, one for his present that he is afraid will catch up with him, neither being able to look toward the future.

In Man in the Woods, Scott Spencer introduces Paul, a master carpenter with simple basic needs who has lived much of his life on the outskirts of society without the traditional support mechanisms of a family and close friends. He wanders into a relationship with Kate, herself very damaged, a current media darling who has just authored a popular guide to praying; together the two are forging a life that suits themselves and Kate’s young daughter, without facing who they are and what they have done. Paul’s brief respite in a sate part on his way back to Kate sets off a chain of events that Kate tries mightily to stop from unraveling everything she has done, but whose consequences Paul knows deep down inside he must eventually face.

Scott Spencer writes a page turning novel that explores its characters, Kate reacting to her new success in life, trying to forget about, rather than heal from, her previous life, and Paul as the man before he enters the woods, while he is in the woods and the man he is when he leaves the woods and how these changes affect those around him.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a suspenseful literary novel with a richly described rural Mississippi setting, including the values and mores of the early 1970’s and today. He has developed Silas and Larry so well that it will almost be like looking into a mirror. The plot is engrossing, the truth hidden as well as some of the back roads of Larry and Silas’s Mississippi.

Larry Ott was suspected of raping a murdering a girl when he was in high school, a girl whose body has never been found, nor has any evidence of a crime been found. Larry lives in the rural Mississippi that remains suspicious of him to his day and quickly looks to him when another young girl goes missing. Larry was an awkward young boy who struck up an unlikely friendship with Silas, a black boy being raised by a single mother, a relationship Larry’s parents have forbidden him to pursue, but that he conducts in secret. After the first girl disappeared, Silas and his mother left town, Silas returning many years later as a constable, the one who can save Larry and help him break out of his past, or the one who can hold past grudges and allow Larry to continue living his isolated life. Larry and Silas’s friendship ended abruptly and neither has ever had a chance to confront the other with his suspicions or reassurances. Now men, they will be forced to confront each other, and their individual pasts, fears, prejudices and friendship head on, uncovering secrets that they have kept separately and together for so many years that will either heal their relationship or drive them apart forever.