Ethan Russell’s Reviews > Augusta Locke: A Novel > Status Update

Slow, winding prose. They are filled with the specter of beauty, but cumbersome, and plodding. Gussie is inquisitive, compassionate, more thoroughly loving of her parents than they seem to be of her, filled with youthful wonder, and a lover of the outdoors. Her world is a magical one filled with ravens, and deer, and groves, and sweet ladies, and rude cattlemen. And she, the undaunted fledgling, seeks her own path.

The first chapter was breath-taking. Henderson painted a lively and lovely world in nuanced strokes, illuminating Bomber Basin as a world of small wonders and delicate treasures. The syntax was complex and elegant. The diction effortlessly conveyed the heart of Bomber Basin and why it is such a draw for Gussie. A practice I both admire, and long to perfect in my own writing. Wonderful opening.