Story Description:
Tyndale House
Publishers|August 17, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4143-6842-9
He’s a gambler at
best. A con artist at worst,” her aunt
had said of the handlebar-mustached man who snatched Ella Wallace away from her
dreams of studying art in France.
Eighteen years later, that man has disappeared, leaving Ella alone and
struggling to support her three sons.
While the world is embroiled in World War I, Ella fights her own
personal battle to keep the mystical Florida land that has been in her family
for generations from the hands of an unscrupulous banker. When a mysterious man arrives at Ella’s door
in an unconventional way, he convinces her he can help her avoid foreclosure,
and a tenuous trust begins. But as the
fight for Ella’s land intensifies, it becomes evident that things are not as
they appear. Hypocrisy and murder soon
shake the coastal town of Apalachicola and jeopardize Ella’s family.
My Review:
Vivid
descriptions, southern realism, and great story telling had me drawn in from
the first page. Michael Morris knows how
to weave a tale that will keep you turning page after page after page.
Thirty-five-year-old,
Ella Wallace owned and operated a store in Dead Lakes, Florida. She was on the verge of financial and
emotional collapse. At age 17, Ella had
married Harlan Wallace much against her Aunt’s wishes. Her Aunt had tried to warn Ella that Harlan
was a gambler and a con-artist. Harlan
was taking Ella away from her dreams of studying art in France. Now, eighteen years later, Ella’s dreams have
been dashed and she has 3 sons to care for and a store to save from
foreclosure.
Ella held two
letters in her hand; one from the Blue Moon Clock Company and the other from Gillespie
Savings and Loan. She could either
scrape together enough money to make a partial payment on the second mortgage
Harlan had taken out on their property, or she could gamble on paying freight
charges for a clock Harlan must have ordered before he disappeared. She thought at least with the clock she stood
a chance of selling it and making a profit and the letter said the clock was
paid for in full. If she got the clock,
sold it at a profit then she could make a higher payment on the past-due loan. For the past three months, the bank loan had
been paid in portions that never equaled the total amount due. Clive Gillespie had been pushing Ella to sell
him the property but that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Harlan had left
Ella in a lot of debt when he disappeared and the land that he had taken over
as his own was the last possession of her father’s that she had left. Everything else had been sold, one by one, to
cover Harlan’s debts. The property had
been in her family for two generations and her father, upon his deathbed had
given Ella strict instructions to use the land but never sell it as it was her
birthright. Ella never knew that Harlan
had taken out a second mortgage on the place until told by Clive
Gillespie. She tried to tell him that
she never signed for a second mortgage and that Harlan had forged her
signature, but he didn’t believe her.
Ella has 3
children: Macon, age 6; Keaton, age 13;
and Samuel, age 16. Macon was suffering with a virus that swelled his throat
and caused blisters the size of quarters to cover his lips. The boy was very clearly suffering and to
compound things the boy also had asthma.
Nothing that Ella or the doctor did alleviated his symptoms which caused
another worry for poor Ella.
Two of the boys
hitched their mule to the wagon so they could head into town to collect her
delivery from the Blue Moon Clock Company.
Being a grandfather clock she’d be able to sell it for a lot more money
than if it was a mantle clock. Constant
worry about the payments to Gillespie Saving and Loan were draining Ella to the
point she was almost physically ill.
However, little does Ella know that the contents of this box is going to
change her life forever.
Suddenly a
mysterious man appears at her property claiming to be a relative of
Harlan’s. He told Ella “Harlan’s daddy
was my mama’s first cousin”. Ella told
the man, who said his name was Lanier Stillis that she didn’t want any trouble
and asked him to leave. After much
discussion she agreed to let him stay one night in the barn but the following
day she expected him to be gone. Lanier
finally convinced Ella that he could help her and he stays. Their relationship was strained and Ella
didn’t fully trust this mysterious man.
One afternoon,
Deputy Ronnie Eubanks stepped into Ella’s store, handed her a letter and said
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Ella.”
Ella knew before she even opened the letter what it contained and she
was right. It was foreclosure papers on
her property from Clive Gillespie. Ella
sat outside on the stoop and thought until an idea came to her. She approached Lanier and asked him if he
could cut timber and he said “yes”. Ella
figured if she cut timber down on her property and sold it, she might just make
enough money to stop the foreclosure but she had only 45 days to complete the
job – both cut and sold. Can they do
it?
There is a great
line-up of characters in this novel who have been well-developed and their
voices are authentic. The sense and
feeling of community shines through and you’ll discover many lessons to be
learned. Michael Morris has created a
story with back-bone, but yet you’ll find and feel a sense of innocence in some
of the characters. The secondary
characters are also what makes this story work so well. You want to keep track of them all and not
miss a single word or sentence about them.
It’s the unknown that also keeps you reading, there is so much emotion
packed into this novel, so much wanting and desire for Ella to succeed that you
can’t seem to read fast enough to get to the next part. In parts I was sweating and biting my nails,
in other parts I was laughing and chuckling, and other parts I was just
mesmerized by the sheer poetry of the words.
I’ll say for
certain my two most favourite characters were Ella, who is an immensely strong
woman, and Lanier who is the type of person you just can’t help but like. The most despised character for me was Clive
Gillespie. All the characters are quirky
and literally leap off the page, you’re almost equally as interested in one as
you are the other. Of course, being a
small town, there is the realism of nosiness and gossip of neighbours, The
amount of emotion the story made me feel is the sign of a great writer and
Michael Morris certainly fits that mould well.
I’ll tell you though, at times, that Clive Gillespie had me spitting
nails!
Man in the Blue Moon was a treasure to
read. The complexity and depth is
amazing. I’ll definitely be referring my
friends to this masterpiece. Well done,
Mr. Morris!
