Night Watch

Finished May 28

Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

This historical fiction novel jumps around in time a little during the late 1800s. The book has five parts, with the first and third parts taking place in 1874 and the second and fourth parts taking place in 1864. There is also an epilogue that is set in 1883. 

The point of view changes between a few of the characters but is always clearly stated at the beginning of a chapter. The chapter sometimes has a month and year to set it more specifically within the time of that part of the book. The chapter headings are descriptive, telling us of events that take place, or people that are introduced within that chapter. I liked that the chapters were relatively short, and moved you through the book in a natural flow. 

The main character in the book is ConaLee, a thirteen-year-old girl as the book opens in 1874. She is travelling from her home in the high West Virginia mountain area with her mother to an asylum, taken there by the man that has been in their life for the last few years, one who insists that they call him Papa. ConaLee knows that the relationship between her mother and this man is one of control and abuse, but she doesn't understand the hold that he has on her. ConaLee has watched her mother go from an active loving woman who taught her to read and showed her the stars in the sky to one who lies in bed and doesn't speak. ConaLee's mother has had other children from Papa, all without names. The toddler, who ConaLee calls Little Chap has been taken under her own wing and mothered by her. She reads him stories, cuddles him, feeds him, and acts like a mother would. Her mother has recently given birth to twins, a girl and a boy, that ConaLee served as midwife to.  

In a cabin higher on the mountain, above the one that ConaLee and her mother share is one lived in by Dearbhla an older woman that trades in salves and tonics that she makes from the wild plants near her. Dearbhla was midwife to Little Chap, but has been banned from their home for many months now. ConaLee has met her secretly from time to time, to get advice and medicine, but Dearbhla has the vision to know what has been happening with this small family. 

We learn that ConaLee's father, her mother's husband left to fight for the Union in the Civil War, but never returned, and stopped writing home ten years earlier. He has an occasional voice in the earlier time setting, as The Sharpshooter. 

Dearbhla also has a voice in the book, as does a young boy who lives and works at the asylum, known as Weed. We also learn from the 1864 time what ConaLee's mother Eliza went through and why Papa has the control he has. We hear from Dr. Story, the man in charge of the asylum, and from the mysterious O'Shea, the Night Watch of the title, who is calm and watchful man. 

I really enjoyed seeing the story gradually unfold, understanding what connections were between characters, and seeing explanations for events uncovered later in the story. This is a book about love, risk, and the illusion of control. A fascinating read that was hard to put down. One gets a sense of the landscape of the places, both constant and those travelled through. 

Sorrow Road

Finished May 15
Sorrow Road by Julia Keller

This is the second book I've read in this series set in the mountains of West Virginia featuring prosecuting attorney Belfa Elkins. There are several stories going on here, one reaching far into the past.
In the 1930s, three boys took a ride in car that ended in tragedy. The incident was covered up, but never forgotten by them.
In the present day, a young woman visits her father in a memory care home, trying to get him to take responsibility for the pain and suffering he inflicted on her and her brother when they were young, becoming frustrated at his lack of reaction, but never giving up. Another woman, a childhood classmate of Belfa, has been visiting her father in the same home, and growing more concerned with his agitation. When he dies, she asks for Bell's help in looking into his death.
Bell's daughter Carla has been living with roommates in the city, but calls her and tells her she is coming home, the next day. Bell knows that somethings up, but she treads carefully in questioning her about it, and Carla already has a job interview lined up.
Bell is also considering her boyfriend and where she wants the relationship to go.
With so much going on, and winter storms creating dangerous roads, this book grabbed me and didn't let go.

A Killing in the Hills

Finished November 24
A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller

This mystery novel features Bell Elkins, prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, West Virginia. Bell is a native of the county as is her ex-husband, also an attorney. They moved to Washington, D.C. for years, but Bell felt that something was missing and coming back to her home county and trying to make a difference there was what called her.
As this book opens, Carla, Bell's teen daughter, is sitting in a cafe in town on a Saturday when someone walks in and shoots three older men sitting together at a table. For Bell, the professional has become personal. Carla is traumatized, but also motivated to do something to help her mother.
Bell works closely with the sheriff Nick Fogelsong, and one of their targets is the drug business. There have always been drugs around as far as Bell remembers, but the business has become more professional, and the poor in the county more targeted.
This latest murder though doesn't seem connected to that. As Nick and Bell dig into the men's backgrounds, Carla also starts digging, looking to connect a face to a name. Carla and Bell have been going through some typical mother-teen daughter disagreements as Carla begins to assert her independence, and Bell is careful to give her space while still trying to keep a protective eye.
We also see the situation from the point of view of the young man who committed the crime, with his situation and struggles a big part of the story.
Bell also has another case she is preparing for trial, a case that seems cut-and-dried, but that Bell has a feeling that there is more to than meets the eye. As she interviews family members, she begins to realize the asserts her two assistants bring to the job as well.
Keller was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist before venturing into becoming a novelist and her writing skills are evident here. This is a story about community, about a struggle for survival and about the difficulties of life in America today. A great read.

Funny How Things Change

Finished December 31
Funny How Things Change by Melissa Wyatt

This teen novel focuses on a young man in rural West Virginia. Remy (short for Remington) has finished high school and it is just dawning on him that his long time girlfriend Lisa will be leaving for college at the end of the summer. Remy has spent the last couple of years with her and the thought of her leaving is tearing at him. Lisa has been urging him to come with her, that they will get an apartment and he can find work there, but he doesn't want to leave. He likes his town and the world around him and when he lived with his mother when she moved to Florida didn't make him want to leave again.
When a new young woman comes to town to paint a mural on the water tower, Remy is surprised to find himself noticing her. He hasn't had eyes for anyone but Lisa in years. But does it actually mean anything? He still feels the same way for Lisa.
Remy likes working at the local garage for Duff, who has been teaching him about working on cars, and says that he's a natural at it. He likes feeling the connection to the land that he lives on. Is Lisa worth giving that up. When Remy's dad comes up with what seems like a solution, Remy wonders how much he is willing to give up for love.
This is a coming of age story, a story of a nice young man who thinks of others and wants to do the right thing, but isn't sure anymore what he himself wants. I have to say that I wasn't enamored of Lisa, who doesn't have any depth here, and therefore wasn't rooting for their relationship.
Remy's tale is also one that is seen across rural America, where young people are leaving and not coming back. Where the environmental concerns may be winning battles, but the towns are dying as people leave.
I really enjoyed Remy and this book, but then I also fell for a guy who has the touch with cars.

Interesting Fiction

Finished February 20
Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
This novel takes us back and forth between Corporal Robert Leavitt in Korea in July 1950 and the town of Winfield, West Virginia in July 1959.
In West Virginia Lark, 17, and her brother Termite, 9, live with their aunt Noreen (Nonie). Termite is Leavitt's son, born hydrocephalic and unable to walk or talk. In the West Virginia portion of the story, we see things from the points of view of Lark, Nonie, and Termite. We see the children's mother Lola from many viewpoints, including Nonie's and Leavitt's, that let us understand her motivations and actions. Termite and Lark are very close and Termite communicates with sounds, sometimes parroting those around him, and very much in tune with the sounds of his environment, reacting to things before those around him hear them.
Leavitt is caught up in an action in South Korea involving refugees. Leavitt, injured, has taken shelter in a tunnel with many of the surviving refugees and is unable to contact the rest of the men in his unit.
Back in West Virginia, Lark and Termite like to watch the world from a tunnel near them. It took me a while to get drawn into this but once I was it fully engaged me. The characters are what drives this book for me. Although there are certainly major events that take place in both settings that change the course of lives and matter deeply, the characters are what makes this book come alive.

Thriller

Finished January 3
The Blue Cheer by Ed Lynskey
The main character in this thriller is Frank Johnson, a Virginia private investigator who has recently moved to a cabin in the woods in West Virginia, trying to make a break with his past. He is befriended by Old Man Maddox, a retired CIA man. Maddox and his paraplegic wife Jan are Frank's nearest neighbours, and live over the ridge from him. When Frank sees a Stinger rocket take down a drone one evening over the woods near him, he calls on Maddox to help investigate. Frank ends up targeted for injury and vandalism and the investigations of the two men lead them into further danger including murder. All the clues lead back to a group called the Blue Cheer, but the local authorities seem too eager to turn the other way. What with corrupt lawmakers, lots of drinking, and a love for bluegrass, this book takes the two into a world of open racism and unbridled hate.