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Hello, all:

I bring you a book I reviewed for Rosie’s Books Review Team, one by an author I met through the team. This is the third novel I’ve read by him, and he has never disappointed me yet.

Oh, and as I know quite a few of you were interested in the book I reviewed a few weeks ago that wasn’t available to buy yet, When the Angel of Death Tells Bedtime Stories by Sabine Meyer, I wanted to let you know that it is now available. You can check the review again, here, and I’ve updated the cover and the link as well.

Ursula Major. A Novel by B. Robert Conklin

“Forget disco balls. Forget bell-bottoms. Forget lava lamps and mood rings and pet rocks.”

For Jeremy Hilary Jones, the ’70s were all about survival.

Appalachian settings … fractured families … vulnerable children … Ursula Major is a quirky family saga in the vein of a reminiscence about a bullied youth struggling to keep his younger sister safe while their parents’ marriage disintegrates.

“Take good care of your sister.” This is the refrain Jeremy repeatedly hears growing up in a family of four in a small town on the Ohio River beginning in 1974, when Ursula—nicknamed “Ursie,” his parents’ Little Bear cub—is born. But his father abandons the family for salmon fishing in Alaska, and his mother turns to a snake-handling religious sect for spiritual comfort. From here, brother and sister navigate a series of challenges that culminate in the ’80s with a brutal assault that bonds the siblings in a quest for revenge.

It all starts when Jermey’s mother gives birth to Ursie in the back of a bus. But psychological counseling has convinced Jeremy that his memory about this incident is faulty if not fabricated. And now as an adult reflecting on his adolescence, he is beginning to doubt the core truth of other life-changing episodes. As the grown-up version of Jeremy contemplates reality versus imagination, he can only wonder: “What matters more: objective truth or the relationships that endure, forged by trauma?” It’s a question for the reader to ponder as well.

About the author:

A native of Youngstown, Ohio, B. Robert Conklin (he, him, his) lives, writes, and works, not necessarily in this order, in Columbus, where he and his spouse nurture the ambitions of their three Gen-Z kids, who seem determined to take less-traveled paths of their own. As an outgrowth of personal support of loved ones, he is an advocate for trans rights, eating-disorder recovery, and autism awareness.

His stories have appeared in Blue Moon Literary & Art Review, THAT Literary Magazine, and Kestrel, as well as various ezines. He has also co-authored a college composition textbook to help emerging writers connect with their world. His first two novels placed as back-to-back suspense-genre finalists in the National Indie Excellence® Awards. In a different medium, he is determined to keep posting original cartoons to his Tumblr blog until his followers beg him to stop.

My review:

I write this review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team (author, check here if you are interested in getting your book reviewed) and thank her and the author for this opportunity.

I read and enjoyed two previous novels by B. Robert Conklin and was keen to read this new novel, that although different in tone with a somewhat lighter touch, is also excellent.

The story is told in the first person by an adult Jeremy, who is talking, in the first person, about his childhood and that of his sister, the Ursula of the title. Soon we realise that Jeremy is telling this story to a therapist, who plays a role like that of a Greek chorus (a Greek chorus with a smartphone, who keeps checking all data, correcting factual mistakes, and questioning memories and accounts), or a stand-in for the audience —a highly suspicious and unwilling to totally suspend disbelief— audience.

Ursula Major tells the story, mostly in chronological order (within the frame of the therapy sessions), of Jeremy’s childhood up to his adolescence, starting with his sister’s birth. This is a pretty peculiar event, that sets the tone for all that is to come in the rest of the book; not only the fantastic nature of some of what happens, but also the unreliability and changeability of some of it.

I don’t want to reveal too much of what happens, because the book is full of wonder and surprises (some good and some not as good), but I’ll just mention that, in this apparently “normal” childhood we find: a birth in the back of a bus; a miraculous escape from a traffic accident; complex and changing living arrangements; changes of career for both parents; exciting (?) adventures and playing dates; babysitters who get too much of the wrong kind of attention; a satisfying revenge plan taken a bit too far; a missing parent; changes in religion; visits to infirm people; educational missions in prisons; princesses hidden in dungeons; surprise inheritances; odd suitors; bigamy; spy exchanges, and more.

The characters are fascinating and feel true to life, even when the stories aren’t easy to believe, and other than the therapist, whom we don’t get to know too well, we feel sorry to leave them at the end of the book. I particularly enjoyed Jeremy’s mother, a woman prepared to do anything necessary to keep her family afloat, and always searching for something to give meaning to her life. Ursie is a joy as well. A fabulous kid, clever, quick, strong, and full of opinions. Ans what to say of Jeremy? His sharp observations, his flawless storytelling, and his wise reflections about truth, memory, experiences, the past, and life in general, make of him a cross between an amateur philosopher and a gifted artist and author. He might be an unreliable narrator, but only if we think there is a factual truth not open to interpretation, and our past is written on stone, rather than on shaky memories.

The writing is beautiful, descriptive without going over the top, and it manages to place readers right in the centre of the action, that we experience with all our senses, sharing what the main character sees, hears, smells, tastes, and feels.

There are moments of pathos and funny episodes as well (all the characters are gifted with a peculiar sense of humour), as is to be expected of a coming-of-age story such as this, where there is much to be learned, by the young Jeremy and especially by the older one recounting the story. And, of course, some of the lessons are memorable enough to be reflected upon, adapted, and adopted by the readers as well.

A wonderful tales of a special childhood, moving and unforgettable, that feels real. Or at least as real as one’s imagination.

A few quotes so you can appreciate the writing.

“Well, now that’s a very good question, a very good question indeed,” our mother responded. In fact, it turned out to be such a good question, she didn’t bother to answer it. This was something we were learning about the nature of questions.

There was something enchanting about the way the sunlight streamed down through the treetops and lit up a small grass-carpeted circle that could be perceived between two thick tall trunks serving as a gateway. The grass was only ankle high, free of noxious weeds or poisonous ivies. Surrounding the circlet of grass was a border of dark-green ferns that wavered in the slight breeze like gestures of welcome, and so, feeling invited, we entered.

He was a good conversationalist, if by “good” you mean holding up his side of the conversation like a drawbridge holds up traffic. Basically, it was all one-sided.

Thanks to Rosie and her team for their support, thanks to the author for another wonderful novel, and, most of all, thanks to you for always being there, reading, sharing, commenting, and liking. Stay safe, cool, and keep smiling!