The Hedge, the Ribbon: A Novel

by Carol Orlock

Do we create our stories out of our reality, or is the truth something deeper and more miraculous? Award-winning author Carol Orlock explores these mysteries and others in this haunting tale about the people of Millford, a town you're not likely ever to forget. A little girl makes the snow fall by believing it will. A man finds and returns things others have lost--even memories. A lonely widower falls in love with a woman in a painting. An old woman, a storyteller, a hedge, and a ribbon, weave a magical spell into the everyday reality of a small town.

254 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1993

Reviews

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a biography told in stages- although it’s not apparent at the beginning. An unnamed caregiver comes to the home of aged, bedridden Angela Maxwell. She suggests telling stories to her charge, and so the tales begin, along with her giving Angela a red ribbon to hold as a sort of worry stone.

The stories start with Angela as a child, convinced that as long as people want it to snow, it will. And so it does. The whole town of Millford is steeped in gentle magic, something no one finds remarkable. A tea-serving ghost, an artist who duplicates everything in the town in clay, a storm of feathers; all these are accepted as perfectly normal. The stories progress through Angela’s life, the ribbon always present (even if only for a moment), and the hedge growing ever more wild and blocking the way into- and out of- Angela’s house. In the end, Angela finally realizes she is old, and she is isolated. She can remember things from the past- the losses, of people and of being able to drive- but she cannot remember the aging itself. How has she come to inhabit this aged body; a body with memories of an 80th, an 85th, birthday party?

A pleasant book, with its chapters of connected episodes and people in Angela’s life. It won the 1993 Western States Book Award. What might have been slight tales of a small town are tweaked a few degrees off kilter by the magical realism. Four stars.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hedge, The Ribbon: A Novel is a delightful series of stories, stories within a larger story. They relate to each other and take parts from each other and are woven and put together and they tell parts of the remarkable life of Angela Maxwell and the place she lived. It is a bit surreal and magical in small ways and in big ways. A ghost story seems almost normal and expected by the time you read it. It takes everyday stuff and spins it in a way you wouldn't have thought of. Pure magic is thrown in, but in such a way that you accept that it is just the way it is. Other things that might be magical could have a much more rational explanation perhaps, but it doesn't matter. You see it the way the characters do. The novel increasingly becomes a fantasy, or perhaps what some call magical realism.

These are stories of Angela, her family, friends and neighbors and her town, Millford. Some stories touch her directly, many only indirectly. The first story is of Angela as a young girl and when it ends we are not quite sure how old Angela is, since she herself is a bit uncertain, because she is indeed old and her memories are slipping away but we have had these wonderful stories.

I really enjoyed this book. Each story pulled me in and I became more enamored of the book as I read along. It brought many smiles to my face. This book will be hard to find, but if you happen across it I would not pass it by.