Clara at the Edge: A Novel

by Maryl Jo Fox

Eccentric widow Clara Breckenridge, seventy-three, is on a last-ditch journey to 1) reconcile with her estranged son, 2) confront the guilty secrets tied to her daughter's death, 3) and maybe find love again before she dies miserable and alone. Magic purple wasps saved her as a child from an abusive father, and they want to help her now--but Clara, scared and stubborn, resists their efforts. When her beloved old house gets slated for destruction, Clara insists her son haul the entire structure from Eugene, Oregon to Jackpot, Nevada. Once there, she encounters troubled young people abandoned by their parents who turn her life upside down. Still, she resists confronting her past. Can Clara's purple wasp companion--a rowdy spirit guide "fresh from Vegas or hell"--help Clara join life again? Or will time run out and leave her devastated and alone?

Advance praise for Clara at the Edge

“Clara is a fascinating, feisty character….The writing is haunting and lyrical, and frequently ripples with humor and heart….Clara truly is at the edge of something greater than herself....[and her] story unspools in a compelling and engaging way.”—FOREWORD REVIEWS

"Fox’s writing says yes to every surreal and absurd possibility life offers."—BOOKLIST

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2017

Reviews

[Elizabeth (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd story. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. The wasps, the creature in her purse, her longing to help people, her odd compulsions to run off. Clara couldn’t get more complicated. Interesting story, but I can’t help but feel like someone tried too quickly to force a jigsaw puzzle together.

[Albert Nekimken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Early in this extraordinary first novel, Clara at the Edge, by Maryl Jo Fox, we see Clara’s beloved house on a flat-bed trailer rolling into Jackpot, Nevada from Oregon. It is an early glimpse of the book’s striking visual quality. Similarly, in the novel’s first pages, we meet Clara’s guardian angels, barn wasps. We watch these wasps drive her possibly abusive father out of a North Dakota barn when Clara was twelve. These magical wasps stay with her over many generations of their short lives from her childhood through decades of painful guilt over the death of her daughter. This guilt has turned her into a recluse and isolated her from her son. It is the wasps’ mission to make her face this guilt and hopefully find reconciliation.

Clara at the Edge is relentlessly contemporary. Maryl Jo Fox paints a homely environment where everyday consumer products like Prell shampoo and Ivory soap telegraph the unpretentious milieu in which Clara and her family live. We are absolutely certain that we can drive to Jackpot, Nevada—zipcode 89825—and find Scotty’s casino. This specificity grounds the novel in Clara’s desert world and illuminates her character: plain, strong, stubborn and lonely.

Yet, despite its solidly realistic grounding, the novel is oddly out of step with the current sensibility that favors dystopias, crime, violence and futures full of fearful technology.

Clara at the Edge has less violence than the typical Disney film. It has sex, but sex treated with restraint and, overall, in contexts of love. Ultimately, the novel projects a positive view of marriage, family and responsibility; characters make mistakes—serious ones—and suffer consequences, yet they survive, In these difficult times, we badly need books like Clara At The Edge

[Lisa Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a random pick from She Writes Press. I had not heard of Maryl Jo Fox prior to choosing this book based on its title and cover :) I'm delighted I did, and I will remember MC Clara Beckensridge for a good long time.

Clara is an endearing older woman quickly approaching 'the edge' as she must face up to life experiences that have changed her relationship with her son. She is unwilling to let her 'brain rooms' open, especially the ones that hold traumatic memories. In order to fix her relationship with her son, though, she will be forced to open up---with a little help from her friends.

The author asks (gently) for the reader to open their own brain room to let magic and a little fantasy enter into an otherwise very realistic story. If you are willing, you will be taken on an adventurous ride with Clara and a wasp or two.

Indeed, wasps figure prominently throughout this novel and I won't look at them the same way.

Besides that, there is much to love in this novel. Frank, Clara's son, has his own story and we want to figure him out as much as Clara does. As well, Clara's memories of her late husband who has been dead over three decades are as tender as flaky pie crust, and fresh as ice cold lemonade. However, Clara's instinct to help difficult people backfires and causes chaos in her life. Is it her random concern for strangers or her locked memories that hold her back from bonding with her son?
I don't want to give away spoilers so I'll stop there.

[Romalyn Tilghman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clara at the Edge is a unique portrait of a 73-year-old woman, who sees the power in hovering, lavender wasps. Clara is feisty, but vulnerable. She believes in magic but is pulled into reality. She makes you love her, although few have. Here is a woman trying to run away from home, but who has literally taken her home with her. The harder she tries, the more her old secrets come to haunt her. The story is cinematic, rich in detail, and moves along at a quick pace, underlined by the short lifespan of the wasps.
Maryl Jo Fox has deftly written a story of complexities and contradictions which is never confusing but always compelling.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I'm going w 4.5 stars, rounding up, instead of 5 stars because it wasn't my absolutely most favorite book, though I really enjoyed it. I have to say the main thing I found refreshing and interesting is the main character is 73 years old. Life doesn't stop at 50, or even 60. There are a lot of people living life, growing and changing way beyond age 70.
The other thing I really like about this book is the magical realism. It's definitely my favorite genre, and not to be confused with the genre of fantasy. With magical realism, A bit of the magical is woven into reality...usually having very down to earth characters. Our MC, Clara, has had a swarm of wasps protecting her since the age of 11 or 12. They are now getting very pushy with her, insisting she get honest with her adult son and try to make amends to him, and maybe build a closer relationship with him. Clara also has immense guilt around her 11 yr old daughter's death. This is guilt she has carried alone for decades. The wasps are right! It's been long enough.
I only got irritated with the story one time, and it wasn't a huge thing. I tend to get irritated when I'm expected to believe the characters will actually do something that isn't in their nature or personality to do. I'll not go into detail as I don't want to create any spoilers.
The book had a lot of good feels about relationships of all kinds. Mother's on relationships, husband-wife, boy meets girl (at various ages!), friends, old and new. Clara also has very lovely relationship with the house her husband built for her.
I recommend d it to anyone e who enjoys character driven stories.

[S. Schmauder · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Clara At the Edge," written by Maryl Jo Fox, is a quirky book that will keep you reading. Clara, a widow in her 70s, finds out that city planners want to demolish her small old house to make room for new housing.
So she gets her estranged son, Frank, to tow the house to Jackpot, Nevada. This decision is another strange one for Clara, whose daughter, Samantha died as a child in a mysterious accident. That incident seems to have set off Clara's retreat from reality.
A "swarm of rowdy purple wasps," that have protected her since her own childhood, talk to Clara and follow her everywhere. "It's about time you leave your prison," the wasps finally say, and come back into the world.
In the desert town Jackpot, where "smaller casinos hover nearby in nestles of cars," Fox introduces us to unsavory people, some very bad. And some good ones. Clara runs into many serious problems, but also meets people who will change her life for good, if she will let them. She finally takes her bad secrets out of her locked "Brain Rooms," another unusual but very useful idea that Fox invents, with the help of the purple wasps.
Maryl Jo Fox has an excellent ability to describe things and find telling details, which add depth to this unusual and gripping novel.

I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of "Clara At the Edge." This is an unbiased and honest review.

[Catherine Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Overall it was a rather sad story. Clara's childhood was very tumultuous and frightening. After she and her sister Lillian ran away, I was sorry there was no close relationship there. Maybe it was their way of handling the past. (Maybe book 2? hint hint) Clara finally set down some roots for 13 years with her husband and 2 children but then life went terribly wrong. I kept hearing the song "No roots" while I was reading this story. It described Clara quite well. "I have no roots but my home was never on the ground." I see the truck moving her house down the road with the wasps swarming around it. Wasps are frightening and sting just like many of Clara's memories. This is a great book to remind us to express our regrets and fix our relationships while we are alive. (I would have given this 5 stars but I really do not like wasps!)

[Cheri Jacobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was eccentric yet relatable. It is a great book on family and it's dynamics.

[Jane Meneely · Rating 2 out of 5]

I receieved this as ARC from GoodReads.

I'll be up front - I didn't finish this book. It just never "grabbed" me. The story was very original. But I just couldn't get into it. Just not for me.

[Blair Geiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. Nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it for the most part.

[Brandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an unusual book. The basic story is good but the magical realism was distracting.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as a giveaway.

It was by far one of the most original books I've read. All the characters are very true to life from Clara being a stubborn, selfish old woman who thinks herself to have a big heart despite turning her back on her only living family (she reminded me so much of my grandmother) to Edie, the forgotten child who blames everything on her rough life.

The story was slow, but interesting, allowing me to put it down and pick it up at my leisure. Easy to follow which works great for me considering I'm a mom and have no focus anymore. It was also worrying. I have so many things in my own life that I keep bottled up, is it going to fester in me like it did Clara?

Honestly, the only complaints I have about this book is the "choppiness." Parts around the dialogue were blocky and some areas didn't seem to flow as well as others, but the strengths came out around descriptive paragraphs of Clara's past, the locations, etc. It also seemed to rush through parts that could have been expanded on more while other times the author expanded on things that could have been left at one sentence.

Definitely one I'll put on my shelf for later in life.

[John]

Review available at Foreword Reviews.

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard one to rate. The writing is solid. Interesting premise and a few (mild) twists. I wavered between loving parts and being apathetic. Ending felt a tad rushed, after the buildup/countdown.