Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

 

Odessa, Texas, is a hot, rural poor town in the 1970's.  About the only thing going are some farming and the oil fields.  One morning, Mary Rose Whitehead hears knocking on her family's farmhouse door.  She opens the door to find Glory, beaten to a pulp and desperate for help.  Mary Rose brings her inside and calls the police and an ambulance.

This act of brutality has far-reaching effects.  Glory is only fourteen and took the offer of a ride from a rich boy in town when she shouldn't have.  He is arrested and charged with rape and assault.  Mary Rose takes her family except for her husband and moves into town, frightened now at how remote the farm is.  There she meets Corrine, a recent widow who is adjusting to life without her husband.  Debra Ann is the neighborhood child who never seems supervised as her mother walked away and no one knows where she is or if she will return. 

The novel centers around the crime and the subsequent trial.  It also explores the relationship between the various women and how the support they give each other is what makes life possible for them in such a desolate place.  Karla is a young waitress who is a recent single mother and who finds her support in the diner where she is a waitress and where the older women take her under their wings.  Glory was born in the United States but is of Mexican heritage and the prejudice against Hispanics and the differing justice accorded to them is highlighted.  

This is Elizabeth Wetmore's debut novel.  She was born and raised in Odessa which she left at age eighteen.  She experienced firsthand the changes oil brought to the area and the casual racism that is the hardest to eradicate.  We learn about the town through the stories and viewpoints of the various women who live there and how they experience life.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.