About the Book:
It is 1955 Florida, and Kaye Park Hinckley’s debut novel, A Hunger in the Heart, brings it alive with memorable flawed characters who all desire something. Sarah Neal longs for her husband, Putt, a WWII hero with a traumatic brain injury, to be like he was before the war. Because he can’t be, she fills her longing with whiskey. Coleman, their son, needs his father and wants his mother’s love and affection. C.P., the B.O.S.S. of Gator Town, Florida, and Putt’s dad and Coleman’s grandfather, wants everything to be normal, and he yearns for his dead wife’s forgiveness.
They all must learn how to live through tragedy and treachery when Putt is accused of a heinous crime. Fig, the gardener, with commonsense wisdom explains to Coleman, “. . . a hero makes a choice to put somebody else ahead of himself,” and Anna, Coleman’s first love, teaches him the most valuable lesson of all.
This is a story, ultimately, of hope and love: How we find it and thrive in even the darkest circumstances.
My Comments:
In a lot of ways this book reminded me of one I read by Flannery O'Connor. I could see that the writing was good. The author, Kaye Park Hinckley nailed the small town South. Her characters were believable and flawed. Her writing was professional and it is obvious there is a story beneath the surface story--the story English teachers help students to find. It is a story of good but flawed people muddling through the bad choices they've made in life and though the sorrows that life has dealt them. While it is a story that has a hopeful ending, it was not a happy feel good read.
I'd like to thank the author for providing a complimentary review copy. Her website includes a sample from the book. See what you think.
sounds like a good one
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