Strong Enough To...

Growing up my life was a reflection of my parents having been children during the Great Depression.  There were no credit cards or checkbooks in our home.  Everything was paid for with cash, saving until the full cost of a car or home could be paid in full.  Staples in our pantry were always well-stocked; the fear of running out having made a life-long impression on both of them.  The stories of going without, the struggles of barely getting by, in turn and in time have directed how I live.

Despite hearing firsthand accounts from my parents, immersion by way of well-crafted historical fiction can and does give new insights into the hardships felt by others during this time period.  Writing her debut novel, Every Day After (Delacorte Press), Laura Golden returns readers to a world where wanting gets pushed aside by needing, where too much change reveals the depth of a person's character.  It's a time when some truths remain the same while others alter for the sake of survival.


I learned a lot from my daddy, but the number one most important thing is this:  never, ever, under any circumstances, let something get the best of you.  To do this, you gotta work with what you got, play the cards you been dealt, turn lemons into lemonade.  Too bad he wasn't around to see me doing just that, because one thing's for sure:  when it rains in the South, it pours.

With that opening paragraph larger-than-life, gutsy, Lizzie Hawkins has become each reader's new best friend.  We share her ups, which are too few and far between, and downs, one right after the other, over and over again.  Before we know it the walls in our reality have slid away, replaced by her town of Bittersweet, Alabama.

Losing his job at the steel mill sapped the vim and vigor right out of Lizzie's Daddy until one morning without so much as a goodbye, he left home, leaving her Mama a small note and Lizzie her grandmother's locket.  With his leaving her Mama became more and more withdrawn until she sat in the rocker on the porch or the wingback chair in the parlor all day, every day.  Eleven-(soon to be twelve)-year-old Lizzie has taken up all the household and gardening chores as well as mending from townsfolk.  The frightening part was it was a well-guarded secret, except from her best friend in the whole world, Ben.

Ben was as kind as Lizzie was feisty, seeing the goodness, however small, in everything and everyone. He had problems of his own, his father having passed away a short time ago.  The one slight crack in an otherwise long-standing, solid friendship was a new girl in their class, Erin.  Ben being Ben was more neighborly to her than Lizzie thought right.  After all, Erin had done nothing since her arrival last summer, except to bully and badger Lizzie.

Not only does Erin want to make sure she gets the attention due for best grades instead of Lizzie, she wants to make sure Lizzie never has the honor again.  Erin wants Lizzie gone from Bittersweet...permanently.  Fear of discovery feeds Lizzie's fervor to maintain appearances at all costs.

Eccentric Mr. Reed, the elderly town recluse, the large amiable Sheriff Dawson, banker Mr. Cooper, snooty, meddling Mrs. Sawyer, Erin's mother, wise Dr. Heimler, storekeepers, Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle, their teacher, Miss Jones and Mrs. Butler, Ben's mom, all figure prominently in the twists and turns of the escalating troubles confronting Lizzie.  A trap is laid.  Dogged and desperate, Lizzie knows escape to, not from, is her only hope.


Laura Golden breaths life into her characters through dialogue rich in local flavor.  Lizzie's conversations with each of the characters illuminates their personalities and hers, brilliant and blemished. Her journal entries, documenting events and her perceptions, help readers to see her growth, however slow it may seem at times.

Through Lizzie's voice we become acutely aware of the financial challenges facing people not only in Bittersweet, Alabama but in most of the United States during the Great Depression.  Vivid descriptions of place paint a picture of the town in our minds. Chapter headings, proverbs taken from Lizzie's Mama's favorite book, provide a closer look at the atmosphere within Lizzie's own home, especially before her Daddy left.  Here are several passages taken from the book displaying the attraction of Golden's writing.

Myra, along with about ten other nosy bystanders, trailed us into town.  We turned off Main onto Oak Street, then onto Mr. Reed's rutted dirt drive, which led directly to his house up on the hill behind town.  I didn't know about Ben, but I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  We tiptoed over the junk in the front yard---cracked mirrors, broken chairs, rusty pitchforks and hoes---and onto the sagging front porch.

"Those church ladies probably think Mama's crazy for not coming to church lately.  A few of 'em came by to visit after Daddy left, to drop off a jar of jam or a batch of biscuits, but they never saw Mama.  I always told 'em she was scrubbing floors or gone into town.  They never seemed to doubt me.  But still, when they stopped showing, their mouths likely started moving.  Do you figure that's where Erin heard it?"
Ben shrugged and cleared his throat like he was gonna say something.  He didn't.
"Benjamin Butler!" I yelled.  "Did you hear me?"
It was times like these I'd have traded Ben for a girl in a blink.  Girls live to get riled up over stuff.  Boys would shake hands with the man who'd shot their dog.
He snatched up a rock and shot it into a sweet gum.  A single leaf floated to the ground.  "I just got a lot on my mind."


Beautifully conceived and executed, Every Day After, a labor of love, written by Laura Golden is a completely captivating work of historical fiction.  Nearly consumed in a single reading, I was compelled to discover answers about the characters' questionable futures and filled with admiration for Lizzie Hawkins.  This outstanding narrative will resonate with readers, the characters lives lingering and mingling with ours.

As is my custom a link to Laura Golden's website is embedded in her name above.  Here are links to four interviews where Laura talks about this book and the writing process, here, here, here and here.  Laura is the guest blogger at the Nerdy Book Club today.

To The Rescue

We all need to be rescued from time to time whether it's once in a blue moon or if life is topsy-turvy, daily.  It can be as simple as helping to banish a bad mood or as critical as performing the Heimlich maneuver on someone choking.  Frequently we are well aware when we provide assistance to a person in need but on occasion the smallest gesture in word or deed, can make a significant difference without our knowledge.

Members of the animal kingdom are no different than we when it comes to needing human intervention. Having no voice our vigilance is of the utmost importance.  In her first chapter book of 2013, White Fur Flying (Margaret K. McElderry Books), Patricia MacLachlan writes about the varied forms rescue can assume.


"Once upon a time there was a wicked queen," said my younger sister, Alice.

In the Cassidy family Alice is the talkative sister, an observer of life, a weaver of outlandish tales and a writer jotting her latest thoughts in a journal.  Daddy is a veterinarian with a huge heart.  Mama with an equally large heart, rescues Great Pyrenees.  Zoe, the narrator, while not as talkative as Alice misses little of the world around her; she sees and knows much.

Into the mix are Kodi and May, Pyrs.  May will soon leave for a new home.  A recent addition is Lena, an African grey parrot whose favorite phrase, repeated in a British accent is "You cahn't know!"  It seems Mama is not the only rescuer; Daddy seeing the need to save this feathered mimic.

As the story begins a new family has moved into the home across the street appearing to be pretty much the opposite of the Cassidy crew.  The suit-wearing Mr. Croft comes and goes silently in his big black car.  Prim, proper Mrs. Croft seems uncertain and slightly fearful.  A boy, Philip, Alice's age, does not talk.  Philip is staying with the Crofts until his parents can work out some problems they are having.

Within a couple of days, outgoing Alice, wise Zoe, warm Mrs. Cassidy and the two dogs have welcomed Philip into the supportive, loving fold of their lively summer.  Philip still does not speak (except to Kodi and Lena) but he is now smiling and laughing.  When Mrs. Croft accepts an invitation for a tea date at their home, a new understanding of their neighbors is revealed to the Cassidy family.

With May in her new home, Mama has rescued two more Great Pyreness, Callie an adult female and Jack, a young male.  Very soon though the rhythm of their days changes.  In the middle of a stormy night, two are missing, one canine and one unable to speak.

Three leave to search; Mama has Kodi but Zoe has only her knowledge of the truth to assist her.  By morning all that has been lost are thankfully recovered.  Understanding and compassion can and does heal, sometimes the rescued becomes the rescuer.


Consistently Patricia MacLachlan delivers stories reaching into your heart, shaping it and holding it warmly surrounded by love.  When you step into the world of the Cassidy family, narrated by the older Zoe with the added day-to-day dialogue between the characters, you can't help but want to be a part of that world too.  The importance of a dog's ability to heal and help, to sense and see, what some humans can't is at the essence of this tale.

Each of the short chapters carefully connects to the next with a single profound closing sentence or remark.  Through the technique of Alice's writing MacLachlan offers further insights into what she hopes readers will take away from this book.  Alice's poem, You Can't Know, and the final pages of the book taken from her journal are pure perfection.  One of my favorite passages is:

My voice sounded loud in the quiet kitchen.
No one said anything.
"He thinks many things. And those things are trapped inside of him.  Maybe something happened that made him afraid to talk," I said.
I looked out the window.
"Except to Kodi," I added softly.
"Kodi and Phillip are friends in some way we don't know about," said Daddy.  "And it doesn't have much to do with words."


Happily and with confidence give White Fur Flying written with impeccable, masterful skill by Patricia MacLachlan to fans of her work, to those people who love dog books, or to someone who might need rescuing.  This story shows family dynamics at their very finest; full of understanding for the personalities traits of one another.  Also, if we choose to view those around us with the same care as our canine companions, bridges can be built and crossed.