I just enjoyed the debut novel from Susan Beckham
Zurenda called Bells for Eli, and I will keep my eye open for her future books.
Readers who have ever had a crush on a cousin will take delight in this story
of Adeline Green and her cousin Ellison Winfield.
In small town Green Branch, SC, the first cousins live
across the street from each other in the 1960 and 1970s. Unfortunately, little
Eli mistakes lye in a Coca Cola bottle for the cola drink and burns up his
esophagus. His early years in school find him alternately shunned and teased
because of his injury. Young Delia becomes his defender. Unbeknown to Delia,
even after the physical outside wounds have healed, Eli continues to suffer
from his accident and his shame from all the years of teasing, causing him to
always look to challenges that will proclaim him to be a man.
This is a coming of age story in which the two
encounter a multitude of trials including the Southern culture, parents,
friends, bullies, and the opposite sex. Through it all, the cousins remain
committed to guarding and caring for each other until another tragedy strikes.
I found myself drawn to
this story from the beginning, and it was a bit of a page turner as I was eager
to learn where Dee and Eli would take me.
Kudos to Zurenda on her
first novel outing. I look forward to more from her. Her background includes 33
years of teaching literature, composition, and creative writing to high school
and college students. This book started as a short story that won a fiction
prize some years ago.
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