Archive for the ‘maternal love’ Tag
Presented as a coming of age tale, Go as a River by Shelley Read relies on the spirit of place while addressing romantic and maternal love. And, the author incorporates Colorado history.
Victoria Nash is 17 when she meets a drifter in her small town of Iola. This quickly evokes feelings she’s never experienced. Wilson Moon is not much older than Victoria but his wisdom and sensitivity captivate her. They embark on a brief, clandestine affair. He’s suspected of theft, although his only crime is being Native American in a mostly racist community.
When his body is found at the bottom of a gulch, Victoria suspects her brother of murder. However, her attention soon turns to dealing with her pregnancy. When she can no longer hide her swollen stomach, she runs away from the family peach orchard to hide in the nearby mountains.
Read’s descriptions of the land, Victoria’s feelings and determination to survive on her own are vivid Victoria endures harsh conditions alone, including giving birth. This, and coming upon a young family picnicking in the forest with whom she furtively abandons her son, make belief difficult to suspend.
The impending destruction of Iola, a consequence of the creation of Blue Mesa Reservoir is among the losses she carries the rest of her life. Yet, she moves forward. With assistance from a botanist and others, Victoria moves the peach trees to Paonia before Iola is submerged. And thoughts of the son she gave away remain close to the surface.
Go as a River
Spiegel and Grau, 2023
305 pages, includes acknowledgements
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson addresses a shopping list of timely topics: sexism, racism, politics and the meaning of family.
The story begins with a bang: the attempted murder of Marie Mitchell, an intelligence officer with the FBI. Marie’s story is told via a journal she writes to her young twin sons. She addresses them frequently, which reminds readers they’re privy to what a mother wants her children to know. As the novel progresses, the phrase in case anything happens could be added to most sentences.
Marie kills the would-be assassin who invades her Connecticut home, takes her kids and family dog to Martinique to hide in her estranged mother’s home. Marie’s narrative recounts her youth, including that she, her older sister and their father were left in New York City by their mother who returned to her island country.
Marie is intelligent and likeable, but her sister, Helene, has more personality as portrayed through Marie’s memories. The sisters are close. Helene decides she wants to be an FBI agent when she grows up; Marie follows suit after Helene mysteriously dies. However, because of gender and race, Marie’s given little opportunity for advancement.
Then, she’s approached to help undermine the revolutionary president of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara.
Wilkinson takes the reader back to the 1960s, mid-1980s and early 1992 when the novel begins. At times fast-paced, at others more deliberate, Marie wonders about the role she’s assigned as she gets to know Sankara. Why she’s a target is the over-riding question.
American Spy
Four Bookmarks
Random House, 2018
292 pages
The Blue Page Special 