Sing Them Home You need an appreciation of quirkiness to enjoy the novel "Sing Them Home" by Stephanie Kallos. The novel's events take place in the small town of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. The title of the novel comes from a local tradition of gymhana, based on the local Welsh funeral practices of singing for several days after the death of a community member.
The children of Llewellyn Jones lost their mother in a dramatic way which became a part of the folklore of Emlyn Springs. In 1978 a tornado struck town and carried Hope, their mother, and Bonnie, the younger daughter, off into the air. During the storm rescue, Bonnie was found balanced on her bicycle up in a tree. Their mother was never found. For the rest of their lives the children are searching for their mother in one way or another. Larken, the oldest sister, is pathologically frightened of flying. Gaelan becomes a TV weatherman. Bonnie remained at home, the perennial little sister. The vigorous weather of Nebraska damages the family again when their father is struck and killed by lightning on the local golf course. To conform to the local traditions of honoring the dead, the children must come home as quickly as possible and remain silent in the family home while virtually all the members of the community sing gymhana for three days. Even the Nebraska Fight Song is a part of the repertoire, and is sung in Welsh.
Each one of the children is struggling to come to terms with their background and the events that have shaped their adult lives. Larken has become a successful art professor, but has struggled with her weight. Food is a constant for her, where she will find her next treat and how she will hide it. Currently, she has no one in her life but the couple and their child who live in the apartment below her. She focuses on their daughter as if she was her own. In conventional terms, Bonnie's life has not been a success. She works at odd jobs and lives in a shed that she has filled with flotsam she has collected from the path of that long ago tornado. Her big find is a wheel which she claims would have been part of her mother's wheelchair. Each character's inner life is fully explored and the reader is left knowing people who possess redeeming qualities that shine far beyond their very human failings. [2-1-09]
The Book of Unholy Mischief Venice in 1498 was a city at the center of the world's trade. All sorts of foodstuffs were available at the city's market. But hunger also existed in that beautiful city. Luciano, the central character of Elle Newmark's debut novel "The Book of Unholy Mischief", was a street urchin who had to steal almost all of the food he ate. When he was caught stealing a pomegranate by the doge's chef, instead of being punished, he was taken to work at the palace. He found his good fortune difficult to believe. As he does the lowly work of an apprentice, sweeping, scrubbing pots, and carrying water, he begins to learn a little more about the dangers of Venice life at the levels of power. As a servant who has the opportunity to observe while being ignored, he learns that the doge is not the senile, doddering old man that he presents to the world. There is a dangerous search going on in the city. Powerful people are looking for a book. Some believe it contains the answer to wealth, and others think it has the secret of immortality.
Food is so important to someone who has had to beg for everything that he eats. Luciano looks at every ingredient that goes into the sumptuous menus of the palace. He soon learns that his master chef has a hidden cupboard that contains special ingredients that seem to alter the behavior of those who eat his meals. The chef also maintains a garden where he grows the dreaded "love apple". Luciano continues to stay in contact with two young men, his previous friends from the street who still must steal to eat. He is able to bring them an occasional delicacy from the doge's kitchen. A small handful of food can truly keep them from starving.
Luciano also meets the beautiful convent girl, Francesca, in the market. He is then motivated to discover the book which all of Venice searching for because he hopes he can find the recipe for a love potion. As Luciano observes the shifting world he inhabits, he realizes that very little is as it first appears and everyone has secrets. Even his birthmark may be an answer to the secret of his birth and help him to understand why he has been so favored to be taken off the street and given a purpose for his life. [2-8-09]
Contagious Michigan gets a starring role in Scott Sigler's newest novel "Contagious." The novel opens with the newly elected President John Gutierrez being confronted with Project Tangram, a government security effort to combat an epidemic of alien blue triangles. The triangles appear under the skin and eventually cause their victims to become paranoid and violent. Eventually their victims die. The only known survivor is "Scary Perry" Dawsey, an ex football player. Scary Perry actually removed his own body parts to combat the invasion.
Michigan does not often have a role in nationally distributed novels, so this was part of my fascination with the book. The primary location for the infectious alien invasion is my hometown, Gaylord. The author has the details right, from the county road numbers to the Blue Devils, the high school sports team. The book's dust jacket says he lives in California, but I was sure there must be a Michigan connection. When I checked his web site, I found a very sophisticated batch of information. This novel is a podcast on his site. The author has been involved in the advancing media delivery of novels. His novel, "Ancestor" was the first audiobook serialized by Sirius radio. Sigler interacts with readers on his website www.scottsigler.com. I found an email point there and I had to find out why Gaylord had an alien invasion. Sigler replied that he is originally from Cheboygan as is Scary Perry. He felt Gaylord was a pleasant town that would be a place to stage a fictional invasion because it had an airport which was necessary to the action.
This novel is difficult to classify with elements of science fiction, horror, and military/political intervention as part of the plot. Every page is tension filled. The details are so elaborate and seem authentic. Sigler expertly covers both military and biohazard threats, but manages to keep his characters credible. The internal dialog of Chelsea Jewell, the seven-year-old who becomes the leader of the alien invasion force, mixes a child's simplistic mind with diabolical planning. There is something particularly horrifying when a child calls the contact that transfers the contamination "smoochies." Closely working with Scarry Perry to combat the triangles and all their allies are Dew Phillips from the CIA and Margaret Montoya, an expert epidemiologist. All their skills are required. [2-15-09]
The Almost Archer Sisters No one can love you like family, and no one can hurt you like family. There is plenty of love and pain for all in Lisa Gabriele's novel "The Almost Archer Sisters." The Archer family's father is Lou, a Vietnam draft dodger, who wound up in Canada. He met his Canadian wife when he was on his way to basic training. Nell already had Beth, her first daughter. Beth's father had been killed after just a few short days in Vietnam. Therefore, Nell was horrified by the war and convinced Lou to leave for Canada with her and Beth. While they were traveling through Georgia, they were certain that they conceived their daughter, Georgia Peachy Archer. When they came to Nell's family farm, they married and began a comfortable life. Unfortunately, Nell suffered from serious depression, resulting in her suicide.
The two girls grow up with a fractured life and are opposite personalities. Beth left the farm as soon as she possible could. She was able to turn her quirky fashion sense into a scholarship to Parson's School of Design. Eventually, she has a career as a stylish television personality with all its attendant glamour. Peachy stayed local. She had always planned to be a social worker and had almost completed her degree. Instead she dropped out of school and married a local boy who had dated Beth when both were teenagers. They even live in the Canadian family's old farmhouse while Lou relocates to a trailer with an idyllic view of the river. Peachy's life is far from perfect, though. Her oldest son Sam has epileptic seizures. That is the focus of her family, always being prepared for what will happen to Sam and keeping him from hurting himself when he seizes. Beth is the breeze that occasionally dramatically blows in. She brings a whiff of the glamorous New York life to the simple, small town farm life. The family never visits Beth because Lou refuses to visit the US, even after there is amnesty for draft dodgers. Beth always brings glamour, excitement and a what-if-I-had-done-that flavor to Peachy's life.
When Beth returns to Canada for a visit, she betrays Peachy in an especially destructive manner. This forces the entire family to rethink where their loyalties lie when the family bond is so badly broken. Healing is the theme of this novel; how long it takes and the scars that are left. [2-22-09]
by Helen Davis