Pony, by R. J. Palacio.                     Junior Fiction.

 

            The celebrated author of ‘Wonder’ has produced something completely different for children this time round:  a novel set in 1859 in Ohio, just before the start of the American Civil War. 12 year-old motherless Silas Bird lives with his father Martin, a photographer and engraver in a small town where one would think, given the difficulty of spreading news in those days, that Mr Bird’s solid reputation for producing wonderful portraits by new methods self-invented would remain in the immediate vicinity.  Sadly not – good work spreads by that best advertisement, Word of Mouth, and very late one night, Mr Bird is visited by a gang of men with two spare horses, one for Mr Bird – and one for Silas.  They are to come with them to visit their boss for a week, and earn more money than they can imagine in their wildest dreams – but if they refuse ….. well, who knows what could happen?  The house set on fire?  A terrible accident befalling Silas?

            The upshot, to Silas’s horror, is that his Pa finally agrees to go off with them, but only if Silas stays put:  he is not to leave the property no matter what.

            And this is a promise that Silas is utterly unable to keep.  He cannot sit idly by, waiting for Pa to come home – or not - especially when next morning, the pony that the men had brought for him to ride with his father suddenly turns up in the yard, waiting. And, despite the uncomfortable fact that Silas has very little experience horse riding (their donkey’s back is the closest he has come to equine travel) he decides to start the search for Pa – much to the horror of his ‘imaginary friend’ Mittenwool, who councils against breaking his promise to Pa.  Mittenwool is the reason Silas has been home schooled all his life by his father, for Silas talked to Mittenwool when he went to school and earned the contempt and derision of not only his class mates, but his horrid teacher as well;  consequently Silas’s education covers many wondrous subjects, but his only companion is Mittenwool – until the mysterious and wondrous arrival of Pony.

            Ms Palacio gives the reader a wonderful combination of wild-west adventure and heroics, nail-biting suspense, and familial love, both actual and spiritual – for Silas also sees spirits – whether he wants to or not, and the spirits he encounters all help him on his quest to find his father.  This is a singular, beautiful book, and deserves to be the children’s classic that ‘Wonder’ has become.  SIX STARS.         

 

Razorblade Tears, by S. A. Cosby

 

  

          S. A. Cosby has done it again:  proven he is no One-Hit-Wonder with his second brutal, stunning novel about Black life south of the Mason-Dixon Line.  He’s here to tell you that it’s still less-than-satisfactory, not to say downright dangerous for a Black man to try to carve a new, different life for himself when he finishes a five-year jail term, then tries to rehabilitate himself – which Ike Randolf does, starting a landscaping business with a fair measure of success.  But there is still suspicion aplenty as to how that Nigger is driving his  Black Ass  around in such an expensive truck, when all the Good Ole Boys are not so lucky.

            Whatever.  Ike is glad to be back home with his family, even though his reporter son Isiah is an enormous disappointment to him, having come out as gay recently, and even marrying his boyfriend Derek, a chef, and a white boy, too.  Ike is full of rage whenever he thinks of his boy, so he tries not to think of him at all – until Isiah and his husband are brutally murdered outside a restaurant, pumped full of so many bullets that their faces are unrecognisable.  And it’s not because they were gay this time, though God knows, crimes against gays are right up there with crimes against Blacks, but because Isiah had been given damaging information about someone prominent that he was going to publish in the newspaper for which he worked.  They were marked men.

            To add terrible insult to unbearable injury, Ike hears from the Police that they are making no progress with the crime because the boys’ friends refuse to speak to them;  it’s impossible to get the time of day out of them, let alone any information, so they are declaring the case ‘inactive’.  Just another example in Ike’s eyes of yet more discrimination, so he and Buddy Lee, father of Isiah’s husband decide to team up and see what they can find out themselves, for they want vengeance for their sons – need vengeance, as a sop to all the times they refused to accept what their boys were, all the memories of their intolerance and angry rejection, now leaving them with the saddest words in the world:  ‘If Only’.

            Mr Cosby has shocks galore here (not to mention some wild metaphors) in store for the reader;  his prose is savage and his characters brilliant and unforgettable.  Blood flows freely through the second half of the book, but he also asks the big, gnarly questions about all the ‘isms’ and ‘phobias’ that must keep on being asked, especially by a writer of his calibre.  I hope his third novel isn’t far off.  SIX STARS!           

 

Gone by Morning, by Michele Weinstat Miller.

 

   

        
68-year-old Kathleen Harris is having a morning trip on New York’s vast subway system.  Her carriage is full of happy tourists, and ordinary folk who try to ignore them – until a bomb goes off just up the line and everybody scrambles in panicked hordes to gain the safety of the street:  it transpires that the bomb in a backpack was placed in a garbage bin and has caused huge loss of life and enormous damage.  Kathleen’s aborted trip to the city results in a four-hour walk home to her suburban apartment in a building - which she owns.  For Kathleen is a retired Madam;  she has seen much more of the harsh side of life than your average sweet little old lady, having been a crack addict and serving a 5-year jail term for buying the heroin on which her husband fatally overdosed.  She lost custody of her only daughter Lauren too whilst in jail and has been estranged from her for many years, her daughter blaming her for all their misfortune.  So, despite her material security, Kathleen has lost everything she ever loved on her way to respectability.

            In her own way she has tried to make amends, secretly helping her granddaughter Emily get an influential job in the Mayor’s Office, and making available one of her apartments for her to rent.  So far, so good, until Kathleen receives a call after the bombing from one of her ‘girls’ who needs to see her urgently, something she can’t speak of on the phone – then doesn’t arrive.  Her body is found dumped days later.  Her throat has been cut.

            Ms Miller also has the reader by the throat, and doesn’t let go:  she is masterly at directing suspense in whichever way she feels inclined, and she has plenty relevant to say about the hypocrisy of people’s attitude towards sex workers, and what drives those women towards The Life – with Kathleen being a perfect example.  The plot thickens most satisfyingly, veering off in unpredictable directions, especially concerning the Bomber - and that is enjoyable;  there is nothing worse than knowing WhoDunnit before the writer reveals all.  Ms Miller’s prose can be a bit rough around the edges and she must know just about every eatery and café in New York, giving them all a plug, but she raises some very cogent arguments in favour of those who live The Life and do the dirty jobs – because they must.  FOUR STARS.