Mary Volmer

Oh, Mary Volmer, what have you done to me? Two sleepless nights because once I picked up your first novel," Crown of Dust", I had trouble setting it aside. And even when I had laid it to rest on my nightstand, your characters continued to roam around inside my mind with their weighty secrets and their perilous endeavors in Motherlode. Gold fever created this town: raised its canvas roofs, created the thirsts slaked in Emaline's bar and bed, brought together the ragged band of drifters, grifters, drunks and dreamers. Holes dug with pickaxe and shovel in search of gold were always prone to cave in, threatened further by the hasty blasts set off upstream. Another kind of explosion was set to devastate the lives of secretive Alex, haunted David, stalwart Jed, and Emaline, who was the queen of Motherlode, its own mother, its very heart. And now, I can't wait to dive into "Reliance, Illinois" to see what you have made of this prairie town and its residents.… (plus d'informations)

I loved this story of a girl born with a "port wine stain" on her face. Destined never to be seen as a beauty, she and her mother flee to a town on the Mississippi River in the turbulent post-Civil War years. Her mother makes lace but no veil can shield Madelyn from stares and whispers. Madelyn finds comfort of a sort in service to the town's leading lady, a "suffragette" who secretly furnishes birth control to the town's women, when they need it. And Madelyn falls in love for the first time, with handsome, haunted William, a photographer who appears and disappears like one of his photographs developing in a dark room.… (plus d'informations)

Loved this book. Excellent writing, with language and descriptions (the river, the smell of snow in the air, food, clothing) that still resonate.
Set in 1870s in a fictional town about where Grafton is, just below the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi, this is the story of a young girl, Maddy, and her mother as they struggle to survive in a society and economic system that has no place for women outside a wealthy marriage. The necessary deceptions that people use, and Maddy's need to find the truth, propel the story along.

The historical backdrop, including a visit from Sam Clemens and figures from the women's suffrage movement are all accurate and make this a richly textured story.

It left me with a better understanding of the challenges women faced in that time and place, and a deeper and more nuanced consideration of why people lie or withhold information, and the power of love, the more nuanced relationship of love and truth.

Highly recommended.… (plus d'informations)

Reliance, Illinois is set in 1874, a rather tumultuous time in American history. Thousands of displaced persons wander through a country still reeling from the aftermath of a civil war. Maddy and her mother are two such displaced persons, and Maddy has watched her mother do whatever she can in order for them to survive. At a young age, she's already learned that life can be very ugly, and that if you have nothing you shouldn't expect any more from life than that.

Everyone has secrets in Reliance, Illinois, and readers can vie with Maddy to see who is better at uncovering them. Political overtones in 1874 are uncannily similar to today's, and it was interesting to watch the two suffragettes, Miss Rose and Mrs. French, fight for their causes there in town.

Madelyn Branch has a unique voice that quickly captured my attention and carried me through the book, and that voice did much to help me overlook the uneven parts. Perhaps there was just too much going on in one book. Perhaps there were just too many colorful characters. Perhaps the jump from Maddy the child to Maddy the adult in the epilogue left out too much, but this story of a young disadvantaged girl growing into her true self never quite gelled into a story I could wholeheartedly recommend. But the one thing that I will recommend is Madelyn Branch herself. As a character, Maddy may not always be admirable, but she certainly is memorable.… (plus d'informations)