Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes is a fun LibraryReads selection for June.  The tale begins with a young woman who is in the process of leaving her husband when she learns he has died in a car crash.  Now, regarded by others as a grieving widow, she struggles to redefine her life and depends in large part on a platonic friendship with Andrew. He, in turn, has a childhood friend named Dean Tenney, an MLB pitcher facing a career ending case of the yips.  Looking to get away, Dean arrives in small town Maine and rents an apartment at Evvie (rhymes with Chevy) Drake’s house. Holmes describes the feeling: “that was when he had known what was next. Now, his only plans were dinner and bringing his duffel in from the truck. The part of the future that was in focus had shortened; the part that was just a wall of fog went on forever.” Fortunately, these two lonely and bruised people click and both the banter (including a hilarious story involving a baseball field cereal box race) and the emotional healing (from abuse and devastation) begins. EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER is a gentle story, an undemanding read about forgiving oneself and moving forward. Author Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent at NPR and her debut novel received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus.

More YA debut fiction ...

OUT OF THE BLUE by Sophie Cameron is an emotional coming of age story.  The main character in this debut novel is 16 year-old Jaya. She recently lost her Mom in a freak accident, feels abandoned by her first girlfriend, and is angry with her father. He has quit his job and temporarily uprooted the family including her younger sister in order to pursue a quest to find a Being. Yes, Beings (or angels) have been falling from the sky and no one knows why. 

Sounds strange, right? But I really liked OUT OF THE BLUE much more than I thought I would.  Jaya is an appealing character and her adventures in Edinburgh somehow felt plausible despite the idea that she is the one to find a Being who is the first to miraculously survive the fall to Earth. Jaya enlists new activist friends Allie and Calum to protect and hide the Being from fanatic cults and exploitation. Cameron provides a very read-able (790 lexile) exploration of mortality and grief, while also probing the consequences of good intentions and their impact on both friends and family relationships. OUT OF THE BLUE credibly reflects a diverse society (including biracial, lesbian and disabled characters) and received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal (grades 9 and up).  Look for it on our shelves.

THEY COME IN ALL COLORS by Malcolm Hansen is another debut novel that features a biracial character, Huey Fairchild.  The story begins in early 1960s rural Georgia when Huey is a child and the local pool is closed rather than being opened to Black swimmers. He and his Mom move to New York where he is given a scholarship to a private school; the only other person of color there is the janitor. I was intrigued by the time period and premise; plus, Malcolm Hansen has some first-hand experience on which to draw since he, too, is biracial and moved quite a bit as a child. Hansen is a talented writer; for example, he memorably describes how young Huey met his Mom at a diner and “jumped into a booth beside her and squeezed her like she was the very last of the toothpaste.” However, THEY COME IN ALL COLORS seemed very disjointed with the story moving back and forth between Huey (age 8) in Georgia and New York (as a teenager). Like many young people, Huey is uncomfortable with being different, but he is very naïve about it, too, and that stretches believability. I found it difficult to develop empathy for Huey and this feeling was reinforced as he frequently acts out and invites trouble for himself and his Mom.

Hansen does prompt readers to think about important points like the assumptions we make.  Here, Huey describes a baseball error where one outfielder was not able to avoid another: “[I] explained to Suzie that Chacon was from Puerto Rico, which is why he wasn’t able to call off Thomas in English.  She asked if that was where my family was from. I’m from Georgia, I answered. I couldn’t believe what came out her mouth next. Oh. So-you’re American?”

Sadly, THEY COME IN ALL COLORS, like in the above passage, was made much more difficult to follow because of the absence of any quotation marks and overall I would have preferred a more linear, traditional telling. 

The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo by Ian Stansel

THE LAST COWBOYS OF SAN GERONIMO by Ian Stansel in some ways is a western and in some ways is a murder mystery, but mostly it is about the relationship between two brothers, Frank and Silas Van Loy.  They, along with Frank’s wife, Lena, are horse people so there are plenty of tales of training horses and riding, including competitions and a hunt. Perhaps different from your typical reading choices, but well worth checking out. 

When the story opens, Frank has been killed and Lena decides to track his murderer, brother Silas, who has fled on horseback. As they travel, Lena and Silas separately reflect on their lives and thus recount the story of events leading to such animosity between the brothers. With a contemporary setting in northern California's Marin County near Highway 101, the natural vistas described are beautiful and all of that contrasts even more with the ugly competitive rivalry, violence and ill feelings between the brothers. Since it is only 208 pages, I plan to suggest THE LAST COWBOYS OF SAN GERONIMO as a title for multiple levels of our Senior English seminar on Good and Evil.  Ian Stansel’s short story collection (Everyone’s Irish) was a finalist for the PEN/Bingham Prize and this debut novel received a starred review from Library Journal.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon is definitely worth considering for your next adult book group selection.  This debut novel, set in England, oscillates between 1967 and 1976. The title refers to good and evil, the “goats” and “sheep,” of Matthew’s Gospel (25: 31-46), a metaphor for sorting according to actions towards one another.

A primary narrator is almost 10 year old Grace, who with her young friend, Tilly, sets out to solve the mysterious disappearance of a neighbor, Mrs. Creasy.  Grace is certainly precocious and in some ways reminiscent of other child sleuths, like Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce, but she is not as astute (leave that more to friend Tilly) and is more anchored in the life of a neighborhood where people care deeply about what others think.  In fact, being different, which applies to Grace and Tilly as well as to outcast neighbor Walter Bishop, carries a high price in this small-minded, insular community. Author (and psychiatrist) Cannon has one of her characters assert, “People tend to believe things just because everyone else does….They don’t search for proof, they just search for approval….”

As the summer heatwave begins in 1976, the girls decide to look for God in order to make everyone happier and to bring Mrs. Creasy home and the residents of the avenue together.  Their search leads to discussions at numerous houses along the street and to the implication of long buried secrets, many associated with a fire that occurred nine years earlier. The story is told deftly and humor is often interspersed (as when a new family moves in). The Trouble with Goats and Sheep received a starred review from Booklist.  Publisher Simon & Schuster provides this online readers’ guide and an excerpt.