Solemn
A Novel
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
Solemn Redvine is a precocious Mississippi girl who senses a nearby baby may be her half-sibling: the outcome of her father's mistakes with a married woman who lives in their trailer park. After Solemn witnesses a man throw the baby down a community well, she struggles to understand the event, leaving her forever changed.
As Solemn finds refuge in fantasies of stardom as well as friendships with her brother's wife and a nearby girl, the ill-fated baby's doomed mother disappears without a trace. Solemn remains trapped by connections to the missing other woman and an honest cop who suspects more to the story than others on the small local police force want to see. When her father's next mistake - a robbery - lands Solemn in a group home for troubled girls, she meets a Chicago delinquent who wants to escape. There, Solemn must face the truth of who she really is and what she is really made of.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Buckhanon's (Conception) third novel focuses on the coming of age of Solemn Redvine, as well as life in the small town of Bledsoe, Miss. Solemn's life changes when a baby who could be her half-sibling is born to her neighbor Pearletta Hassle, and she sees Pearletta's husband throw the baby into a well. The plot becomes more complicated when Pearletta disappears and Earl Redvine, Solemn's father, commits a robbery, landing Solemn in a group home. Solemn's relatives, including older brother Landon and sister-in-law Akila, attempt to support her and look to the future, but her uneasy alliance with her roommate, a Chicago girl named Majority, makes the situation even more tense. Eventually, Majority and Solemn are forced to make a decision together about which directions to take in their respective lives. Buckhanon memorably depicts the difficulty of Solemn's situation, but as she attempts to move forward, Buckhanon also gives readers glimpses of hope. This standout novel is anchored by its vulnerable and brave heroine.
