Hard Red Spring
A Novel
-
-
4.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $5.99
Publisher Description
An ambitious and unforgettable epic novel that spans a hundred years of Guatemala’s tumultuous history as experienced by four American women who are linked by the mysterious disappearance of a little girl
In 1902, a young girl watches her family’s life destroyed by corrupt officials and inscrutable natives. In 1954, the wife of the American ambassador becomes trapped in the intrigue of a cold war love affair. In 1983, an evangelical missionary discovers that the Good News may not be good news at all to the Mayan refugees she hopes to save. And in 1999, the mother of an adopted Mayan daughter embarks on a Roots Tour only to find that the history she seeks is not safely in the past.
A heartrending and masterfully written look at a country in perpetual turmoil, Hard Red Spring brilliantly reveals how the brutal realities of history play out in the lives of individuals and reveals Guatemala in a manner reminiscent of the groundbreaking memoir I, Rigoberta Menchu.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kerney (Born Again) explores Guatemala-U.S. relations over the entire 20th century as told by four different Americans living in the tumultuous Central American country. In separate sections ordered chronologically, the four female characters tell divergent but similar stories that come together abruptly by the novel's end. In 1902, eight-year-old Evie Crowder, the daughter of an American cochineal farmer, lives a cloistered life on a barren farm in Guatemala. Due to the draft policy surrounding indigenous Guatemalan men, her father is struggling to find the labor necessary to save their farm, and he makes a deal that will change Evie's life forever. In 1954, the wife of the American ambassador, Dorie, is planning a future with her lover, Tom s, far away from the communists who are taking over Guatemala. In 1983, Lenore and her husband, missionaries in Guatemala, believe they are helping the Christian president through their efforts to convert and baptize Mayans. In the final section, set in 1999, Jean takes her adopted Guatemalan daughter, Maya, on a tour of her birth country in hopes of mending their relationship and is flooded with memories of her time in the war-torn country. The mystery of Evie's life and the scars of Guatamala's past interactions with the U.S. tie the four threads together. Kerney's fine research, wealth of exact details, and control of the historical timeline will keep readers turning pages.
