Porcelain Moths

by Joe Ricker

Maggie Remick has a secret.

When Maggie gets pregnant as a teenager, she’s regarded as just another statistic in her hometown of Limington, New York—a small town in the Finger Lakes Region that has the highest teen pregnancy rate (per capita) in the country. Estranged from her devotedly religious mother, Maggie has spent nearly twenty years struggling to give her life meaning. After she meets a much younger man who shows promise for all of that to change and provides a chance for her to reclaim some part of her youth, her son Harley returns home after serving a two-year sentence for arson.

Harley, recently released from a juvenile detention center for setting fire to a motorcycle, tries to establish a relationship with Maggie, despite the years of her supreme neglect. Harley is reintroduced to the frustration and torment of trying to make real human connection with his mother. Seeing himself as nothing more than a burden to her, and the new romantic relationship she’s established, Harley makes an attempt to go his own way and exit Maggie’s life for good.

Harley takes a job as a janitor at his former high school and distances himself from Maggie by accepting a living arrangement with a former high school mentor. Harley also tries desperately to win the affection of a young woman who has more than her fair share of struggles. But things begin to unravel as his affections are rejected, and the mentor’s darker motives for helping him are revealed.

Maggie’s romantic relationship begins to deteriorate when she reveals to her new lover that she’s pregnant with his child. For both Maggie and Harley, things start to spiral into chaos, and as Harley tries fervently to keep his antisocial impulses contained. In the clutch of emotional turmoil, Harley again tries to establish some kind of relationship with his mother. His attempt triggers a significant emotional downturn for Maggie. The secret she has been keeping from him is finally brought to light, and Harley’s response is nothing short of apocalyptic.

Porcelain Moths examines the harsh realities of a world where people are fighting to find meaning in their existence. There, Ricker offers some insight into this arena with a combination of prose that is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, and starkly flawed characters evocative of Chuck Palahniuk’s. Porcelain Moths is a portal to a world that is chillingly genuine but rarely acknowledged.

232 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2021

About the author

Ricker began his writing career as an undergraduate at the University of Mississippi, where he worked nights as a bartender at City Grocery. In both the bar and on campus, he was mentored by local authors and instructors Barry Hannah, Larry Brown, and Tom Franklin. Esquire magazine referred to him as: “A man of letters who’s gentle in the way that only the toughest of hard-asses can be.” He earned an MFA from Goddard College, and moved on to teach in Ithaca, New York, for nearly a decade. After leaving Ithaca, Ricker spent two years living out of his car and traveling through the western United States with his dog Kamani. He settled in Reno, Nevada, where he currently resides. Ricker has worked as an innkeeper, cab driver, carpenter, ranch-hand, lumberjack, and strip-club bouncer.

Reviews

[Erin Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever read one of those books where you can’t quite pinpoint exactly why you like it...you just do? Maybe it was the glimpses of my hometown that haven’t changed much. Or maybe it was because everyone can probably think of someone they know who is a Harley, a Maggie, a Sean, or an Emily. I went into this book expecting the dark crime fiction I’ve come to expect from Joe Ricker, but Porcelain Moths was more than that. It was dark humor and light moments, bitter reality and flashes of sweetness, contained in the cold metal of a Zippo lighter. Excellent read.

[Shannon Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not read this book before bedtime because I felt like I knew Maggie and Harley and they were on my mind so much that I couldn’t sleep. That’s how well Ricker develops and describes his characters. He knows how to draw you into his writing, where the scene around you is so vivid that you can touch it and where most characters are someone you know or have seen around your hometown. He gives you enough details without overwhelming your imagination. As you read this book, you’ll be able to watch it unfold in your mind’s eye. Highly recommended.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting! I love a book with in depth detail and this had it. Great vocabulary without alienating the reader. Kept me wanting to read more!