Guest House

Book Review: Guest House by Barbara K. Richardson

Title: Guest House
Author: Barbara K. Richardson
Publisher: Bay Tree Publishing
Publication Date: March 16, 2010
Paperback: 218 pages
ISBN: 978-0981957715
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis:

Driving home from work on a summer afternoon, Melba Burns witnesses a nightmare collision. The wreck ends her pursuit of success at any cost—Melba parks her car, quits her job and stops driving. She retreats into her beloved old farmhouse, yearning for a simpler peace. But peace and Melba’s new roommate, JoLee Garry, have never met. A shallow, self-absorbed stunner, JoLee magnetizes messes and trouble. She brings boyfriends, booze and a tag-along son with her—a series of unexpected guests who transform Melba’s solo life into something different, daring and richer.

My Review:

Guest House by Barbara Richardson is an extraordinary novel of strength and perseverance over extreme adversity. Richardson has a way of writing that not only gives her characters life, but also makes the reader care for them even when they are at their worst (except Bill McAllister, he does not even try to be likeable). Richardson writes with a depth and breath of emotions, yet with just the right amount of humour to keep the novel from becoming crushingly sad. One of my favourite lines is found on page 37 “…Frank apparently feared photosynthesis…”. It is with that sharp wit that keeps the reader smiling while knowing Matt is living in a bar watching his father Gene drown his sorrows in alcohol or the knowledge that Matt’s mother, JoLee, has taken up residence, as a lodger in Melba Burns’ home, acting as though she neither married nor a mother. The day 54-year-old Melba Burns learns that her young wayward lodger is a wife and a mother, everything changes. Melba is the type of woman anyone would be honoured to have as a neighbour. She believes, she hopes, she dreams, that all things broken can be repaired. This belief in righting what is wrong is how 11-year-old Matt Garry ends up on Portland Street. Guest House touches the reader in a deep and profound manner, making the reader take pause and rethink and re-evaluate what has brought each character to where they are in their respective lives. Ultimately the tenacity of an 11-year-old boy and the hope carried by a 54-year-old woman teach the reader the true value of a life worth living. Guest House is a deep novel that will keep the reader thinking of the characters long after the book is closed.

To obtain more information please visit the following:

The author’s website.
Read an excerpt from Guest House.
Visit Barbara K. Richardson’s blog.
Watch a video trailer of Guest House.

I received a complimentary copy of Guest House by Barbara K. Richardson from The Book Report Network for review. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

Guest Blogger Barbara K. Richardson Author of Guest House

Kids Worth Knowing
by Barbara K. Richardson author of Guest House

Everything a novelist needs to know is learned by age four. I don’t remember which great writer said this, but there’s truth in it. The furious beauty of childhood stamps us for life.

Why then aren’t there more novels that feature great kid characters? Let me name a few of my favorites:

I adore Dill, Gem and Scout, scouring the back streets of Maycomb, Alabama, daring Boo Radley to come out and play, if only he’ll put away his scissors… Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a Southern love letter that delivers three unforgettably sweet, cantankerous, determined children from harm.

Reuben and Swede Land are a brother/sister pair who move through their childhood straight, no chaser. Reuben traces the frightening demise of his older brother’s youth as Swede, his kid sister, records outlandish tall tales in metered rhyme. The realist and the poet, both are sensitive, compelling siblings struggling to hold their family together in Leif Enger’s beautiful Peace Like a River.

Idgie Threadgood tomboys her way through Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café as recluse, then dear friend, then champion. The eventual triumph of this girl, crushed early on by the death of her older brother, makes you want to cheer for the sanity of children who do find their ways through suffering, on their own terms, in their own time. Thank you, Fannie Flagg.

My novel Guest House stars Matt Garry, a shy ingenious boy who never fits in unless he’s alone with his invisible sidekick HeShe. That is until Melba Burns, his middle-aged landlady, quietly discovers she cannot imagine living without him. Youth meets wisdom in Guest House, and sometimes it is Matt Garry who has the wisdom!

Recapture your childhood in fiction. Crack open a great book. I would be honored if that book were Guest House.

You can read chapter one of Guest House and view Barbara’s video trailer here.

Thanks so much for inviting me to write a guest blog. I too love to knit but dark chocolate wins in the compulsive pleasures department!

Barb

Please check back for my review of Guest House later in the day.

My sincere thanks to Barbara K. Richardson and The Book Report Network for making the Guest Blog post possible.