Old Southern Secrets

Haynes, Melinda: MOTHER OF PEARL, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Hyperion Books 1999
ISBN: 0-7868-6627-6 As New Condition

Twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade is a black man who was orphaned as a child; 15-year-old Valuable Korner is a white girl who might as well have been. Petal, Mississippi, circa 1956, seems an unlikely spot for these two to connect, but it soon becomes apparent in Mother of Pearl that a friendship across race lines is just one of many miracles waiting to happen in this small Southern town. Melinda Haynes's remarkable debut novel begins in a hot August, when young Val's lifelong friendship with Jackson McClain is starting to change into something more profound, and Even is falling crazy in love with Joody Two Sun, a mixed-race woman with amazing powers. Woven in and around these two central love stories are myriad other characters, other tales. There is 16-year-old Joleb Green, for example, whose mother was incapacitated by a stroke when he was born, and who was raised by the black housekeeper, Grace. There is Even's friend Canaan, an older black man who spends his time reading Greek tragedy and writing his work "The Reality of the Negro"; Valuable's mother, Enid, the town whore; and Neva and Bea, a lesbian couple who have helped to raise the girl. Until this year, blacks and whites have occupied separate universes, for the most part; then Joleb Green suffers a terrible accident, and it is Joody Two Sun who saves his life and Grace who restores his soul. At the same time, a pregnant Val arrives on Joody and Even's doorstep, hungry for the understanding and acceptance she cannot find at home. Though at first Even is resistant, Val's humanity soon transcends her color in his mind: Even chuckled and shook his head, happy for a reason he couldn't distinguish other than at that moment of Canaan's near-perfect cast, all seemed right with the world, as right as a thing can be what with a white girl camped out in the middle of the Quarter with no plans of leaving. Gradually, without really intending it, Joleb, Val, Even, Joody, Grace, and Canaan form something that looks suspiciously like a family--a relationship that will soon be tested to the limit when Val's baby is born. Melinda Haynes has taken on a Herculean task, crafting a multicharacter story that reaches across racial barriers to encompass an entire community. She doesn't shy away from the ugliness in life--bigotry of every stripe, mean-spiritedness, betrayal, thoughtless cruelty, and death--but what interests her is the potential of the human heart to find space within itself for the most unexpected people. With its strong, lyrical language and fully realized characters, Mother of Pearl is a fine novel and a terrific introduction to a new literary voice. --Alix Wilber From Publishers Weekly In prose both rugged and beautiful, Haynes plumbs the secrets of the South in her stunning debut novel. Set in Petal, Miss., across the Leaf River from Hattiesburg, the narrative opens in the summer of 1956, shortly after Even Grade, a 27-year-old black man, has met Joody Two Sun, a seer whos known as a witch, and not long after Valuable Korner, the 14-year-old daughter of the towns one loose woman, gets her Blessing of Blood, as Joody Two Sun calls it. Evenso named from the note his mother left when she abandoned him at a Memphis orphanageis a decent man, kindheartedly building a family of friends; while Valuable, the daughter of a dying Southern line, an orphan of sorts herself, is deeply in need of family. Valuable and Jackson McLain, the boy down the street, fall in love, and Haynes captures that phenomenon delicately and persuasively. In a heartbeat Valuable is pregnant, and as Jackson is forced to move away, Valuable turns to Joody and Even for support as she carries the baby she comes to think of as Pearl. Despite Evens help, Valuable, whose family hides secrets far darker than this pregnancy, seems doomed to pay for the sins of the past. Indeed, Hayness capacious novel is very much about the justice wrought by destiny, but it is also about finding family, people who nurture, forgive and care for each other; in the novels--- published at twenty six dollars. Hardcover 6 -1/2 x 9-1/2"

[SW: my book reviews - novels, oprahs book club, friendships, historical, literary, oprah book club]

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Reid, Robert Sims: The Red Corvette, Carroll & Graf August 1993 ISBN: 0881849901
,,Old murder, old men and a sleepy midwestern town whose French name suggests deep-rooted evil frame Reid's latest well-crafted mystery featuring retired Rozette, Mont., policeman Leo Banks. Sarah and Gerry Heyman, who were, respectively, Leo's major love and his best friend in college in the '60s, unexpectedly visit Rozette during a summer trip out West with their children. A few months later, Sarah calls to ask Leo to investigate Gerry's murder in the southern Illinois town of Mauvaisterre. Gerry, a doctor, was beaten to death while trying to clear the name of a patient, a slightly retarded man whom he believed was wrongly convicted for the murder of a local woman 50 years before. To solve Gerry's murder, Leo investigates the earlier killing and is thus drawn into a tangle of old small-town secrets as well as the emotional terrain of his youth. Best in this solid effort is the unexpected friendship that develops between Leo and Mauvaisterre's sheriff, Freddy Pointdexter. Lots of small-town atmosphere, another death and the sins of fathers and sons lead to a rousing nighttime stampede during a harvest fair and a credible resolution.

Condition;Good ,Paperback ,Old murder, old men and a sleepy midwestern town whose French name suggests deep-rooted evil frame Reid's latest well-crafted mystery featuring retired Rozette, Mont., policeman Leo Banks. Sarah and Gerry Heyman, who were, respectively, Leo's major love and his best friend in college in the '60s, unexpectedly visit Rozette during a summer trip out West with their children. A few months later, Sarah calls to ask Leo to investigate Gerry's murder in the southern Illinois town of Mauvaisterre. Gerry, a doctor, was beaten to death while trying to clear the name of a patient, a slightly retarded man whom he believed was wrongly convicted for the murder of a local woman 50 years before. To solve Gerry's murder, Leo investigates the earlier killing and is thus drawn into a tangle of old small-town secrets as well as the emotional terrain of his youth. Best in this solid effort is the unexpected friendship that develops between Leo and Mauvaisterre's sheriff, Freddy Pointdexter. Lots of small-town atmosphere, another death and the sins of fathers and sons lead to a rousing nighttime stampede during a harvest fair and a credible resolution.

[SW: Leo Banks Mystery Series]

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Hall, James W. Hell's Bay, Minotaur February 5, 2008 ISBN: 0312359586
,,EX LIB\nEdgar-winner Hall (Magic City) puts a Southern gothic twist on his latest Florida thriller to feature his iconic hero, Key Largo beach bum Thorn. While helping old flame Rusty set up a houseboat deep in the Everglades as a fishing spot for tourists, Thorn becomes entangled in the intrigue surrounding the murder of Abigail Bates, a wealthy land and mine owner. Soon after, one of Rusty's first customers, John Milligan, confronts Thorn and claims to be Thorn's uncle, making him face old family secrets possibly connected to Bates's murder. Thorn's detective friend, Sugarman, at Thorn's request, starts making possibly dangerous inquiries into the crime. The appeal of this multilayered novel lies in the authenticity of its evocation of the Everglades, along with a slow-burning plot that kicks into high gear when Thorn and Rusty's guests, cut off from the outside world by sabotage, are hunted by Bates's killers. The result is another compulsive page-turner from a master of suspense.

Condition;Good ,Hardcover no DJ ,EX LIB\nEdgar-winner Hall (Magic City) puts a Southern gothic twist on his latest Florida thriller to feature his iconic hero, Key Largo beach bum Thorn. While helping old flame Rusty set up a houseboat deep in the Everglades as a fishing spot for tourists, Thorn becomes entangled in the intrigue surrounding the murder of Abigail Bates, a wealthy land and mine owner. Soon after, one of Rusty's first customers, John Milligan, confronts Thorn and claims to be Thorn's uncle, making him face old family secrets possibly connected to Bates's murder. Thorn's detective friend, Sugarman, at Thorn's request, starts making possibly dangerous inquiries into the crime. The appeal of this multilayered novel lies in the authenticity of its evocation of the Everglades, along with a slow-burning plot that kicks into high gear when Thorn and Rusty's guests, cut off from the outside world by sabotage, are hunted by Bates's killers. The result is another compulsive page-turner from a master of suspense.

[SW: Thorn Mystery Series]

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Ross, JoAnn: Blue Bayou, Pocket April 1, 2002 ISBN: 0743436822
,,Setting: Blue Bayou, Louisiana\nSensuality: 8\n\nBeautiful Danielle Dupree returns to Blue Bayou with her young son to rebuild her life after a bad marriage ends. With her estranged father soon to be released from prison and her new apartment damaged by fire, she has more than enough problems to deal with. But fate throws Danielle another curve when she learns that her first and only love, Jack Callahan, has also returned to the small Louisiana town. Once known as Bad Jack, Callahan is a wildly successful author and the owner of Beau Soleil, the antebellum mansion that was Danielle's beloved childhood home. A single meeting is enough to convince both of them that the heat that once blazed between them still smolders. But both have personal histories rife with pain and secrets that may tear them apart before they have a second chance at love. And Jack has an old score to settle that threatens to endanger Danielle and her son before exonerating her father.\n\nFilled with a host of terrific secondary characters, Blue Bayou is the first in a trilogy of novels by Ross featuring the Callahan brothers. The Louisiana bayou setting drips with Cajun atmosphere and the heroine is a quintessential southern princess paired with a sexy bad-boy hero. The two generate enough sensual heat between them to make the pages sizzle--don't miss this one. --Lois Faye Dyer

Condition;Good ,Paperback ,Setting: Blue Bayou, Louisiana\nSensuality: 8\n\nBeautiful Danielle Dupree returns to Blue Bayou with her young son to rebuild her life after a bad marriage ends. With her estranged father soon to be released from prison and her new apartment damaged by fire, she has more than enough problems to deal with. But fate throws Danielle another curve when she learns that her first and only love, Jack Callahan, has also returned to the small Louisiana town. Once known as Bad Jack, Callahan is a wildly successful author and the owner of Beau Soleil, the antebellum mansion that was Danielle's beloved childhood home. A single meeting is enough to convince both of them that the heat that once blazed between them still smolders. But both have personal histories rife with pain and secrets that may tear them apart before they have a second chance at love. And Jack has an old score to settle that threatens to endanger Danielle and her son before exonerating her father.\n\nFilled with a host of terrific secondary characters, Blue Bayou is the first in a trilogy of novels by Ross featuring the Callahan brothers. The Louisiana bayou setting drips with Cajun atmosphere and the heroine is a quintessential southern princess paired with a sexy bad-boy hero. The two generate enough sensual heat between them to make the pages sizzle--don't miss this one. --Lois Faye Dyer

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