The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

 

Charlotte Holladay comes from an old respected Virginia family and a milltown where the mill was owned by Holladays and the main street was Holladay Avenue.  But Charlotte never fit that mold.  After her husband deserted her and her daughter, she went through a wild spell and gained another daughter.  But the gossip and narrow mindedness of the townspeople was crushing her spirit so she took her girls and left.  

Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly mother material.  When she disappeared for more than three weeks with no word, her girls, Liz and Bean, decided something had to be done and climbed on the Greyhound bus to visit their uncle Tinsley.  Tinsley wasn't doing that well himself.  He had been forced out of his mill by new owners and a bully they brought in named Maddox.  Maddox cut salaries, cut out longstanding benefits like the Christmas ham and baseball team and made everyone's life miserable.  Tinsley was left with a huge mansion and no money coming in.  When the girls arrived he was living off eggs and venison stew but he welcomed the girls in regardless.

The girls liked the town their mother despised.  Bean found new family with her father's relatives and learned about the man her mother refused to tell her about.  They did well at school and learned to love Uncle Tinsley.  But Maddox wasn't through with the Holladay family and he committed a crime against the girls that could not be ignored although it would divide the town.

Jeannette Wells is known best for her memoir, The Glass Castle, which outlined the story of her own unusual family and which was made into a movie.  This novel shares elements of that memoir with adults who are unwilling to live up to their responsibilities as parents and children who are forced to grow up well before their time.  Readers will fall in love with Bean's spirit and empathize with Liz and her troubles.  This book is recommended for literary and women's fiction.