Roseborough - Hardcover

Jane Roberts Wood is the award-winning author of Grace, Dance a Little Longer, A Place Called Sweet Shrub, and The Train to Estelline. A recipient of the Texas Institute of Letters Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, she is a member of TIL and PEN.

"It takes a village" aptly describes how Lone Oak, Texas, comes to the aid of one of its own in this latest offering from Texas author Wood, who has a real appreciation for the laidback lifestyle and language of a small town. When Mary Lou's husband is trampled to death by his horse, she signs up for more hours at the DQ and for a single-parenting course at the community college. The seven class members openly share their personal concerns--cancer, abuse, AIDS, absent children, and the death of a spouse--while the professor struggles with uncertainty as she ends a five-year affair. The group quickly bonds and all rally around Mary Lou, whose 14-year-old daughter, Echo, leaves home after her father's death, first living in their neighbor Mr. Roseborough's tree house, then taking to the road, sending only the occasional postcard home. When Echo returns with a baby of her own, the classmates support Mary Lou once again, hopefully during what will be a happier phase of life. Deborah Donovan
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