5/22/08

Between the Covers

Every last reader will appreciate vivid novel

by Mary Burns

Every Last Cuckoo

By Kate Maloy

(Algonquin, $22.95)

Author Kate Maloy’s vivid imagery interprets Vermont’s landscape as the setting for her debut novel, “Every Last Cuckoo.”*  She employs abundant descriptors of snow in much the way residents of the Seattle area describe the myriad nature of rain.

Charles and Sarah Lucas have been married for fifty years, raising their family in the idyllic countryside. He was a physician in this small town, taking great pleasure in healing, accepting trade for his services, refusing no one.

Sarah could not have anticipated the sudden death of her active husband. Neither could she have expected her own awakening and her response to the needs of other people, some of whom are family, others strangers she takes into her own house. Sarah Lucas provides everyone, including herself, with a place to heal and take flight.

When this story has reached its denouement without a stutter, the reader will sigh pleasantly in awareness that this author has a lot more tales left to tell us.

*A cuckoo is a bird that lays its eggs in another bird’s nest, to be hatched and raised until they’re able to survive on their own.

Mary Burns is owner of The BookWORKS, in historic downtown Marysville or online at www.marysvillebookworks.com.