Award-winning author and friend Michael Stephen Daigle was kind enough to guide me through writing my first novel, and also to offer a review. II offer him here my sincere thanks and share his honest thoughts.
After the review, there are links to my novel, my poetry books, and Micahel's as well., He writes mystery/detective fictionhttps://www.amazon.com/stores/Michael-Stephen-Daigle/author/B00P5WBOQC?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true, centering on Detective Frank Nagler of Ironton, NJ.
"The Botleys of Beaumont County are such an important family that members carry the name of the country in their name, thus Slerd Beaumont Botley.
And
as such welcome to the framework of Southern fiction, a space occupied by William Faulkner, Pat Conroy, Margaret
Mitchell, and now Arthur Turfa, the poet turned fiction author.
Change
comes slow in Southern fiction: The themes of historic roots, family, the
American Civil War, (which for some has never ended), religion, economic divisions,
and racism, both subtle and overt, are as prevalent as barbeque, cornbread,
sweet tea, and country music.
It
is a rich territory and in THE BOTLEYS OF BEAUMONT COUNTY, his first published
novel, Turfa both honors these traditions and rips them apart.
Full
disclosure: I read this manuscript in
an early form. The published book is far different writing than what I read.
The story opens in 2008 with the election of Barack
Obama as U.S. President, the first Black American so elected. Overlying the local happenings is the economic decline
of 2008-09.
Turfa works the societal changes deftly into the
story: The Botley’s cement products factory is in trouble, local businesses
face failure, racial incidents at the local school, and turmoil in the once steady local
churches.
As such the story reflects the times of 2008-09 but also shines a light on America of 2021.
At the center is the Botleys, proud, heroically
Southern, and a flaming mess of a
family.
Turfa details these changes through the eyes of, first Slerd Botley, successful local
attorney, decorated Army veteran, and family patriarch, and his teenage
daughter Ashley Violet Botley.
Slerd is a fixer, trying throughout the book to
solve numerous social and family problems, including his failing marriage. But
in his own way, Slerd is numb to the building trouble because as a fixer he sees the concerns at
times only as issues to be solved through logic and influence.
He is also distracted by his burgeoning affair with
Jessica Sinclair Cavendish, his high school sweetheart.
The relationship is central to the hierarchy of the
story: She is from the wrong side of town, from the wrong family and their deep
attraction is the key that opens the secrets of the story.
Offering a different view is Ashley, whose observations
are scattered as asides. Whereas her father Slerd muddles through, one foot
trapped in tradition, Ashley breaks those bonds and through her eyes, the reader grasps the changes that are coming to
Beaumont County.|"
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
No comments:
Post a Comment