The Stories We Tell
Synopsis:
Eve
and Cooper Morrison are Savannah’s power couple. They’re on every
artistic board and deeply involved in the community. She owns and
operates a letterpress studio specializing in the handmade; he runs a
digital magazine featuring all things southern gentlemen. The perfect
juxtaposition of the old and the new, Eve and Cooper are the beautiful
people. The lucky ones. And they have the wealth and name that comes
from being part of an old Georgia family. But things may not be as good
as they seem. Eve’s sister, Willa, is staying with the family until she
gets "back on her feet." Their daughter, Gwen, is all adolescent
rebellion. And Cooper thinks Eve works too much. Still, the Morrison
marriage is strong. After twenty-one years together, Eve and Cooper know
each other. They count on each other. They know what to expect. But
when Cooper and Willa are involved in a car accident, the questions
surrounding the event bring the family close to breaking point. Sifting
between the stories—what Cooper says, what Willa remembers, what the
evidence indicates—Eve has to find out what really happened. And what
she’s going to do about it.
My Review:
Loved it. The notion that the stories people tell are not always the
truth of things. Just because people say things it doesn't will them to
be true. Great read with a lot of guessing as to what Eve the
protagonist will do in processing the truth about her marriage, her
relationships, her life and future.
Dollbaby
When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her
mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother
Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New
Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a
tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met.
Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed
daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the
ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.
For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind
the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s
arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie
and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes
be found in the least expected places.
My Review:
Probably the best southern historical fiction I have read to date. Every
year I read a book that just stands out for its beauty in the
storytelling, the writing, the story, the characters and above all the
emotion it evokes when I have the pleasure of reading it. This is for me
the book for 2014 (so far). The story of Ibby (Liberty Alice Bell) and
her life with her grandmother Fanny, her housekeeper Queenie, Queenie's
daughter Babydoll and the rest of their unconventional but equally
delightful family (Tbone, Birdelia, Crow, Graham, Balfour, and Norwood).
The story begins at the height of the Civil Rights movement in 1964
when Ibby's father dies suddenly while on a bicycle outing with Ibby
around their home in Olympia, WA. Ibby's mother (Vidrene) packs Ibby up
and takes her to Graham's mother (Fanny Bell)in their hometown of New
Orleans, LA with the intention of going away for a while to find
herself. Vidrene has spoken very poorly of Fanny to Ibby so she is
apprehensive of meeting her grandmother whom she assumes is old, crazy
and eccentric. Ibby immediately comes to find that her grandmother is
unconventional but fascinating and nothing like her mother had set her
up to be. Her mother never comes back for Ibby and Fanny assumes the
role of caring for her granddaughter and teaching her about the ways of
the South. We meet the house staff at Fanny's house to include Queenie
and her daughter Babydoll who love and respect Fanny not just as their
employer but as their own kin. The book goes from 1964 to 1972 as we see
Ibby mature into a college student at Tulane University.
Throughout the
story we see the impact of historical events (i.e. Civil Rights
movement, the Woolworth sit ins, the Vietnam war, drugs, the Black
Panthers,the introduction of James Brown and the Funk music movement, to
name a few) as seen through the eyes of these wonderful characters. So
many things happen to these characters as would have happened to frame
their lives. All of the stories are revealed as any one of the
characters reminisces to a time and place prior to that day in telling
Ibby about her Grandmother and their family's past. This book is warm
and inviting and the storytelling is as Southern in flavor and style as
Gone With the Wind.
I loved reading every page and look forward to
hopefully more by Laura Lane McNeal.
The Orchardist
Synopsis:
Set in the untamed
American West, a highly original and haunting debut novel about a
makeshift family whose dramatic lives are shaped by violence, love, and
an indelible connection to the land.
You belong to the earth, and the earth is hard.
At
the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific
Northwest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a solitary
orchardist named Talmadge carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he
has cultivated for nearly half a century. A gentle, solitary man, he
finds solace and purpose in the sweetness of the apples, apricots, and
plums he grows, and in the quiet, beating heart of the land--the valley
of yellow grass bordering a deep canyon that has been his home since he
was nine years old. Everything he is and has known is tied to this patch
of earth. It is where his widowed mother is buried, taken by illness
when he was just thirteen, and where his only companion, his beloved
teenaged sister Elsbeth, mysteriously disappeared. It is where the horse
wranglers--native men, mostly Nez Perce--pass through each spring with
their wild herds, setting up camp in the flowering meadows between the
trees.
One day, while in town to sell his fruit at the market,
two girls, barefoot and dirty, steal some apples. Later, they appear on
his homestead, cautious yet curious about the man who gave them no
chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, Jane and her sister Della take
up on Talmadage's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion.
Yet just as the girls begin to trust him, brutal men with guns arrive in
the orchard, and the shattering tragedy that follows sets Talmadge on
an irrevocable course not only to save and protect them, putting himself
between the girls and the world, but to reconcile the ghosts of his own
troubled past.
Writing with breathtaking precision and empathy,
Amanda Coplin has crafted an astonishing debut novel about a man who
disrupts the lonely harmony of an ordered life when he opens his heart
and lets the world in. Transcribing America as it once was before
railways and roads connected its corners, she weaves a tapestry of
solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and
misfortune, bound by their search to discover the place they belong. At
once intimate and epic, evocative and atmospheric, filled with haunting
characters both vivid and true to life, and told in a distinctive
narrative voice, The Orchardist marks the beginning of a stellar
literary career.
My Review:
This story takes place in Wenatchee, WA during a time when the Pacific Northwest was just starting to flourish and other than the big cities of Seattle and Spokane, many lived in a very rural setting. It is turn of the century and life is hard for the middle aged Talmage. He has lived in his little cabin on his apple and apricot orchard since the death of his mother when he was 12 and the mysterious disappearance of his sister when he was 15. He keeps to himself for the most part except for his occasional visits with his life-long friend Caroline Mitty and his mute friend Clee. He is content with his uneventful life until 2 pregnant runaway sisters show up on his farmland and become what he considers to be his new-found responsibility. The two sisters, Jane and Della, are distrustful but desperate to escape a life of physical and mental abuse by what we believe to be their own father. Talmage protects them and even helps to birth one of the girls babies. These young women have decided and made a pact that they would rather die than return to the life that has robbed them of their innocence. Everything is against them - the laws, the land, circumstance. But Talmage is a good, honest person who simply wants them to have a chance at life. The life he feels his sister never got.
The story takes us through the death of one sister and the survival of the other. Talmage assumes full parental responsibility of Angeline, Jane's surviving child and raises her there on the orchard as best as he can. Angeline however is not made aware of how her life came to be until Talmage has to confront her with the truths about the life of her mother and aunt. Talmage, goes on a personal mission to make things right for the surviving of the two sisters so that Angeline has a connection to family he feels is very important.
This story is about love, self-discovery, the damage caused by mental and physical abuse, redemption, truth, and family. Although his blood-relatives are not part of that family, Talmage manages to create a family as a result of the ties created by Jane, Della, Caroline, Clee, and Angeline.
Beautifully written and well-developed story. Although it is heart wrenching at times it does seem to paint a picture of how hard it was to be a woman at the turn of the century and how tough it was to make a life in the desolate Pacific Northwest.
The Kings and Queens of Roam
Synopsis:
From the celebrated
author of Big Fish, an imaginative, moving novel about two sisters and
the dark legacy and magical town that entwine them.
Helen and
Rachel McCallister, who live in a town called Roam, are as different as
sisters can be: Helen older, bitter, and conniving; Rachel beautiful,
naïve – and blind. When their parents die an untimely death, Rachel has
to rely on Helen for everything, but Helen embraces her role in all the
wrong ways, convincing Rachel that the world is a dark and dangerous
place she couldn't possibly survive on her own … or so Helen believes,
until Rachel makes a surprising choice that turns both their worlds
upside down.
In this new novel, Southern literary master Daniel
Wallace returns to the tradition of tall-tales and folklore made
memorable in his bestselling Big Fish. The Kings and Queens of Roam is a
wildly inventive, beautifully written, and big-hearted tale of family
and the ties that bind.
My Review:
This book was so incredible. If this is any indication of Daniel
Wallace's brilliant story-telling, I will definitely be reading more.
This book was a fairytale, a fable, and used a lot of the story-telling
beauty in mythology. The story is about 2 sisters - Rachel, who is
blind and beautiful and Helen, the ugly, sighted yet envious older
sister burdened with having to take care of her younger sister. Don't
assume that this is the likely tale of the meek, poor little blind girl
who wins her freedom from the abuse of an older meaner sister (like
Cinderella and her ugly step sisters). That would be too "Disneyesque".
This story is far more complicated it goes back in time to give the
reader a complete background on how the girls and their home in Roam
came to be. The author focuses on pointing out that good and bad are
relative and everything (regardless of good or bad) happens for a
reason. It's a ying and yang. In other words, for there to be good, bad
must exist as well. And, that "bad" does not always define that person
entirely as an individual. People all have the potential for doing
"bad" things and we all have at one time or another. However, we all
have opportunities for redemption which is the central theme of the
book. This book was definitely an experience. It is unlike any book I
have read before.
The Widow Waltz
Synopsis:
Georgia Waltz has things
many people only dream of: a plush Manhattan apartment overlooking
Central Park, a Hamptons beach house, valuable jewels and art, two
bright daughters, and a husband she adores, even after decades of
marriage. It’s only when Ben suddenly drops dead from a massive coronary
while training for the New York City Marathon that Georgia discovers
her husband—a successful lawyer—has left them nearly penniless. Their
wonderland was built on lies.
As the family attorney
scours emptied bank accounts, Georgia must not only look for a way to
support her family, she needs to face the revelation that Ben was not
the perfect husband he appeared to be, just as her daughters—now
ensconced back at home with secrets of their own—have to accept that
they may not be returning to their lives in Paris and at Stanford
subsidized by the Bank of Mom and Dad. As she uncovers hidden
resilience, Georgia’s sudden midlife shift forces her to consider who
she is and what she truly values. That Georgia may also find new love in
the land of Spanx and stretch marks surprises everyone—most of all,
her.
Sally Koslow’s fourth novel is deftly told through the
alternating viewpoints of her remarkable female protagonists as they
plumb for the grit required to reinvent their lives. Inspiring, funny,
and deeply satisfying, The Widow Waltz explores in a profound
way the bonds between mothers and daughters, belligerent siblings,
skittish lovers, and bitter rivals as they discover the power of
forgiveness, and healing, all while asking, "What is family, really?"
My Review:
I loved this book, the storyline, the writer's style and just absolutely everything about The Widow Waltz. As young women, we never stop to think that our life may not turn out to be just like you imagined it in the naïveté of youth. In the case of Georgia Silver-Waltz the reality of life and her happiness come to a crossroads when her husband of 25 years dies unexpectedly. Accustomed to living the life of a well-to-do Manhattanite she is unpleasantly shocked to find that when Ben died he had exhausted all of their savings and assets. Now, she has to not only reconstruct her life as a widow but solve the mystery of where their savings have gone and worst of all who this man she loved and she felt she knew so well was really the man she thought she knew so well. In the process, she is also playing the supportive mother to her two twenty-something daughters - one smart but scattered and the other not-so-smart but loving and considerate. However; both are lost and grieving the loss of their father and the possibility that the life of financial comfort has come to an end at their young ages. One, even dealing with an unplanned pregnancy.
I felt this book gave me a very intimate view in the lives of the Manhattanite elite with whom I would think I would have nothing in common. Yet, I found Georgia's realizations, disappointments, insecurities to be relatable if not some the same I have myself felt. Excellent read!
