Book Review/The Widows of Eden
The Widows of Eden
A novel about friendship, faith and small-town miracles
By George Shaffner
Hard Cover $21.95
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
By BILL DUNCAN
The News-Review
By his writing style you can immediately see the influnence of a Southern upbringing in George Shaffner. Shaffner may live in Sammamish, Wash., but he grew up all over the South and has that unique storytelling ability of a Southerner. In fact his style is much like that of Fanny Flagg’s.
However, "The Widows of Eden," takes place in Ebb, Nebraska and opens during a summer in which Ebb is enduring the worst drought since the Dust Bowl. The only thing left is to hope for a miracle. The book is narrated by Wilma Porter, the owner of "Come Again Bed and Breakfast." Wilma narrates an improbable tale full of miracles, humor, tragedy and a strong dose of religion and morality.
The miracle happens when Vernon L. Moore shows up, joined by three widows with debatable and mysterious pasts. Vernon is already known to some of the townfolks as a miracle worker and they think he is coming to make it rain and save the crops.
But Vernon has a different mission, to save the soul of Clement Tucker, a mean-spirited, cold-hearted businessman diagnosed with terminal cancer. His reputation as a miracle worker precedes him and the word is that he has saved the town twice already and there are rumors that he even raised a woman from the dead.
The people of Ebb beg him to pray for rain, instead Vernon issues an ultimatum to the townsfolks telling them to pray for the reprobate Clement Tucker or for rain.
Interestingly, this is a sequel to Shaffner’s 2006 book "One Part Angel," which in itself was a sequel to the author’s 2004 debut novel, "In the Land of Second Chances." All are stories told around Wilma Porter’s "Come Again Bed and Breakfast," and her friends, including her best friend, Loretta Parsons, owner of the Bold Cut Beauty Salon.
It is in "In the Land of Second Chances," that Vernon Moore’s reputation as a miracle worker begins. Vernon Moore, is a mysterious traveling salesman who upended everyone’s lives in the quaint town of Ebb when it is believed he brings Loretta, who is in a coma, back from the dead. Vernon returns in "One Part Angel," to save Ebb once again.
Shaffner is a master of the Southern idiom and his characters, so adroitly drawn, not only have entertaining names, but dialog to match and hilarious descriptions like the one when Vernon walked to the bed and breakfast in scorching heat that should have caused him to be "sweating like a cigar thief in a Cuban jail when he arrived, but he was as dry as desert sand."
He indicates to Wilma that he has been in heat hotter than that summer in Ebb, Neb., a mild hint that he’d been to hell and back. I regret that at this juncture, I am reviewing Shaffner’s third book in the series, but it reads so well it is not a let down of not having read the two earlier books in which Shaffner introduced the characters. It seems like you have known the characters all your life. From the tone of this third book, I suggest there are more tales that Willma has in mind for the quirky characters in Ebb, Neb.
Despite its humor, Shaffner has written an inspirational novel about small town life, a feel-good novel about friendship, faith and small-town miracles.
(Bill Duncan can be contacted at bduncan@newsreview.info or by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470)