New Review for A Place Called The Way
D. Donovan of Midwest Book Review had this to say about my new novel, A Place Called The Way:
"Berto Mendoza was a poet. Catching the milk cow was not in his interest, but, if he wanted cream in his coffee that morning, it was a necessity."
Through Berto's eyes and the eyes of characters affected by a small town's growth and spiritual foundations, a story emerges which is anything but the usual staid tale of opportunity and change.
Readers of rural fiction stories, coming-of-age sagas, and Corrine Ardoin's prior books about Pine Valley will find her third book in the series, A Place Called The Way, continues to explore the people who populate this town and grow under its community and promise.
Here, four-year-old Jimmy has already lost his way into a positive life through the abuse of an uncle ("The brown-haired boy swept his hands together, looking on at what he could do, what his small fists could grasp and throw."). Angry at the world, he cultivates his own form of cruelty toward those he can subjugate, cultivating destructive habits toward self and others which are mitigated by the intervention of a wise grandmother and medicine woman, who brings him on a journey of healing and empowerment.
As in the other titles in the Pine Valley series, the overlay is a community that harbors quiet strengths and an unusual healing power that brings many of the damaged Hart family residents into a solution called the Way.
As mother Candelaria Hart and others struggle to understand why the Hart family continually faces struggles and bad luck, from accidents to emotional pain, Jim grows up with angst still alive in his heart: "Jim left the house with his shadow so close, it likely adhered itself to his back. He could not escape it. What lived within himself clung to the fabric of his soul, reaching and grasping, like the paws of some great animal fighting to be free."
It feels unlikely that the Way or its opportunities will ever reach him, but the progression of miracles is just one of the themes A Place Called The Way cultivates, setting it apart from being simply another story of small-town American life.
The ties that bind this community also reach out to embrace the hearts and minds of both prior fans of the Pine Valley stories and newcomers.
As children are born and the town comes together and grows, readers will find the interests, challenges, and evolution of the story's characters blend into a bigger picture of connection and resolution. This makes for an engrossing tale of the Way, how to walk it, and its lasting impact on past, present, and future generations.
The story brings with it a sense of storytelling purpose that links these disparate individuals' lives and eventually arrives at the origins of ill luck in a family, ultimately leading it to the Way.
"The Way is not a word or a place in time, but a feeling, a knowing, a place outside of Time, where Truth awaits, where the life of our destined hopes invites us and brings us to our knees. The Way is not a town that became Pine Way or even Edenville. The Way is what connects us all, one heart, one soul, one life, all One.”
Readers need this story of promise and spiritual growth, and libraries need to not only include it in literary fiction collections about small-town roots, but should point book clubs and discussion groups to its evocative blend of spiritual and social inspection.- D. Donovan, Editor, Donovan's Literary Services, Bookwatch
A Place Called The Way
"Berto Mendoza was a poet. Catching the milk cow was not in his interest, but, if he wanted cream in his coffee that morning, it was a necessity."
Through Berto's eyes and the eyes of characters affected by a small town's growth and spiritual foundations, a story emerges which is anything but the usual staid tale of opportunity and change.
Readers of rural fiction stories, coming-of-age sagas, and Corrine Ardoin's prior books about Pine Valley will find her third book in the series, A Place Called The Way, continues to explore the people who populate this town and grow under its community and promise.
Here, four-year-old Jimmy has already lost his way into a positive life through the abuse of an uncle ("The brown-haired boy swept his hands together, looking on at what he could do, what his small fists could grasp and throw."). Angry at the world, he cultivates his own form of cruelty toward those he can subjugate, cultivating destructive habits toward self and others which are mitigated by the intervention of a wise grandmother and medicine woman, who brings him on a journey of healing and empowerment.
As in the other titles in the Pine Valley series, the overlay is a community that harbors quiet strengths and an unusual healing power that brings many of the damaged Hart family residents into a solution called the Way.
As mother Candelaria Hart and others struggle to understand why the Hart family continually faces struggles and bad luck, from accidents to emotional pain, Jim grows up with angst still alive in his heart: "Jim left the house with his shadow so close, it likely adhered itself to his back. He could not escape it. What lived within himself clung to the fabric of his soul, reaching and grasping, like the paws of some great animal fighting to be free."
It feels unlikely that the Way or its opportunities will ever reach him, but the progression of miracles is just one of the themes A Place Called The Way cultivates, setting it apart from being simply another story of small-town American life.
The ties that bind this community also reach out to embrace the hearts and minds of both prior fans of the Pine Valley stories and newcomers.
As children are born and the town comes together and grows, readers will find the interests, challenges, and evolution of the story's characters blend into a bigger picture of connection and resolution. This makes for an engrossing tale of the Way, how to walk it, and its lasting impact on past, present, and future generations.
The story brings with it a sense of storytelling purpose that links these disparate individuals' lives and eventually arrives at the origins of ill luck in a family, ultimately leading it to the Way.
"The Way is not a word or a place in time, but a feeling, a knowing, a place outside of Time, where Truth awaits, where the life of our destined hopes invites us and brings us to our knees. The Way is not a town that became Pine Way or even Edenville. The Way is what connects us all, one heart, one soul, one life, all One.”
Readers need this story of promise and spiritual growth, and libraries need to not only include it in literary fiction collections about small-town roots, but should point book clubs and discussion groups to its evocative blend of spiritual and social inspection.- D. Donovan, Editor, Donovan's Literary Services, Bookwatch
A Place Called The Way
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