Return to Bitter Creek

by Doris Buchanan Smith

An illegitimate child in the South learns the meaning of love and family life.

Genres: Fiction, Middle Grade

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Doris Buchanan Smith (June 1, 1934 – August 8, 2002) was an American author of award-winning children's novels, including A Taste of Blackberries (1973).

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book, and one that I remember shocking me as a child. Lacey lives with her mother, and mother's lover (hence the shock), who are both artists, and are now returning to Lacey's mother's childhood home, a close-knit Appalachian town. David, the lover, is a gifted iron worker, and has been commissioned to make decorative railings for a new resort, a job that will last long enough for them to build a home and for Lacey to enroll in school, a school chock full of cousins she's never met, overseen by a principal who is her paternal uncle. And there's the other shock: Lacey's parents were never married, and she's never met her father. For a young Mormon girl, pretty much the entire book was alien to me, but I loved it all the same. I loved David (pronounced Dah-VEED), and Lacey, and so many other characters. I loved reading about their Bohemian lifestyle, too. They live in a barn while they're building themselves a cabin, and I think I had the entire contents of their household memorized.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blurb on the back cover of this book states: "...without warning, tragedy strikes. .....the entire family must learn what it means to grieve-..." . So the entire time that I was reading the book, I was looking ahead, trying to figure out who it was that was going to die, but when it came, it still took my breath away. That's how skillful a writer Smith is.

[Lynn]

I loved this sweet little book about a family that has a few family issues to work out. I don't often read books from authors with the guts to kill off one of their main (and my favorite) character. I would have loved this book to be a little longer becuase I enjoyed reading it so much.

[Randy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is one of mom's best books.

[Evansmom]

AR BOOK L 4.8/6.0 PTS.