Synopsis from Goodreads:
Willow Havens is ten years old and obsessed with the fear that her mother will die. Her mother, Polly, is a cantankerous, take-no-prisoners Southern woman who lives to shoot varmints, drink margaritas, and antagonize the neighbors and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the young modern mothers of their small conventional Texas town. She was in her late fifties when Willow was born, so Willow knows she's here by accident, a late-life afterthought. Willow's father died before she was born, her much older brother and sister are long grown and gone and failing elsewhere. It's just her and bigger-than-life Polly. Willow is desperately hungry for clues to the family life that preceded her, and especially Polly's life pre-Willow. Why did she leave her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, fifty years ago and vow never to return? Who is Garland Jones, her long-ago suitor who possibly killed a man? And will Polly be able to outrun the Bear, the illness that finally puts her on a collision course with her past?
Review:
I love this cover. It is perfect snapshot of who Polly is: a southern lady who loves to garden and is often the center of fantastic stories (often times unknown to her).
Polly comes from a small Louisiana town during a time when poor folks did what they could to better their circumstances. Polly's family was poor. When the local preacher took an interest in her, she gladly began spending time with him. After they grew closer, the preacher began helping Polly's family financially causing her to feel obligated in staying with him ... even after she started falling in love with someone else.
One thing led to another, Polly met the Captain, married him and moved to Texas. They had two children together, raised them, and the Captain dies. Not too long after the Captain's death, Polly finds out her and the Captain actually have three children. Polly is pregnant with Willow. She's 58.
Willow is pretty much an only child, with Lisa and Shel grown and married living lives of their own away from Texas. Willow has a streak in her that rises up on occasion. This streak causes her to lie about Polly: She hunts with a falcon, that she's the oldest living mother in the world, and that she runs a Satanic church ... among other things. Most of the time Willow does this in defense of Polly even though it may not seem like it. Willow really does love her mother and is constantly worrying about when/ how Polly will die - which would be normal for anyone if you were born when you're mom's 58. Learning about Polly's past is the only thing Willow wants from Polly before her eventual death but Polly REFUSES to talk about her past in Bethel.
Will Willow ever learn about Polly's past? Why doesn't Polly want to talk about her past with Willow? What exactly happened between the preacher and Polly? Was the Captain the man she was falling in love with while dating the preacher?
This is my first Kathy Hepinstall novel and I am a huge fan. Her use of similes to enhance the novel and the reader's experience is among the best I've ever read. Here are a few of my favorite:
"The Captain, in my mind, was a quiet Doberman who slept on the floor unless danger was near, then he turned into a hero, saving the world in slow motion, eyes of fire, paws of grace."
"Her love of babies - baby humans, cats, dogs, deer, even varmints - was the trump card laid on top of the others, and I could not help but imagine her doting over me when I was a baby, everything harsh drained from her like wax running off a candle, leaving only this maternal wick from which a knot of warm flame burned without faltering."
"But I had quickly seized upon what I perceived as a last chance against the Bear that was silently colonizing my mother room by room, until he owned the whole mansion of her, the foundation, and the garden."
There are so many more and they are all wonderful. I read 80% of this book in one sitting because I could not, and did not, want to put it down. I would highly recommend this novel to any lover of fiction.
5 out of 5 stars
*A hardcopy was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House, in exchange for an honest review.