Every Last Cuckoo

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Description
In the tradition of Jane Smiley and Sue Miller, author Maloy has crafted a wise and gratifying novel about a woman who finds the most rewarding role of her life just when she thought the best years were over.

Reviews

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Publishers Weekly (09/10/2007)
Maloy explored northern landscapes and Quaker faith in her memoir "A Stone Bridge North"; she returns to both in her moving debut novel. When 75-year-old Sarah Lucass husband, Charles, succumbs to an injury at the peak of a particularly brutal Vermont winter, her worst later-life fears of physical mishap are realized. In grief, Sarahs memories take her back to the Great Depression, when her parents generously opened their home to countless friends and relatives, and to her own regretted missteps as a parent. The chance to recreate the one experience and rectify the other arrives uninvited when a variety of lost soulsSarahs own teenage granddaughter; an Israeli pacifist; a devastated young mother and childseek shelter and solace in Sarahs too-empty home. The motley assortment of characters, many of whom have been touched by violence, deliver passionate apostrophes on peace and justice, and together Sarah and her boarders discover unseen beauty in the landscape, uncover hidden talents and develop a nurturing, healing community. Maloys wordplay and startling nature imagery enchant, but readers will have to decide if the spectacular climax, an expression of its characters principles in action, is out of place with the novels quiet thoughtfulness. "(Jan.)" Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal (10/01/2007)
This lovely tale depicts the surprises and changes that come about with aging. Upon the unexpected death of her husband, Sarah finds strength and a capacity for caring that she never thought she would know without him. Amid bittersweet memories of her beloved Charles, Sarah becomes the unlikely den mother to an ever-growing bunch of lost souls. Surprising her wary family and even herself, she discovers a will to go on and share her home and thus her heart again. She likens the way her house fills with boarders to the way in which a cuckoo inserts itself into the nest of another bird and make its home there. Maloy ("A Stone Bridge North") has created a truly engrossing novel, with situations at times both joyful and horribly sad and an entirely likable protagonist surrounded by an eclectic cast of friends and family. An excellent book club selection; highly recommended for public libraries.Leann Restaino, Girard, OH Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

ISBN: 156512541X | EAN: 9781565125414
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill  | Publication Date: January, 2008

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