The Girl from Charnelle

November 14, 2005
For his first novel, Cook revisits the Tate family of Charnelle, Tex., a panhandle town, from his collection of linked short stories, Last Call
. The year is 1960, and Laura Tate, just 16, has kept house for her three brothers and father ever since her momma walked out the year before. When a married man—John Letig, her father's workmate from Charnelle Steel & Construction—kisses her on New Year's Eve, Laura, long uninterested in the show-off antics of her pimple-faced peers, later catches herself daydreaming. After much indecision, they consummate their flirtation. The author closely observes the affair: the physical pain of Laura's sexual initiation, the power shift between them once Laura understands her allure, the irresistible pull of desire, despite their foundering relationship. Readers of Last Call
will supply details of setting, local mores and secondary characters in this novel. But those coming to Cook's Charnelle for the first time will find some of the context for the affair only sketched in—especially the potentially rich psychological undercurrent of a family abandoned by its wife and mother. Still, the climactic confrontation is a welcome narrative infusion.

Starred review from December 1, 2005
What is the value of a secret life? This question both intrigues and haunts Laura Tate, 16 years old and already baffled by the adults around her. It is 1960, a year and a half since her mother mysteriously boarded a bus and left their small town of Charnelle, TX, and Laura still doesn't know why. It isn't until she becomes involved with a married man that she understands the power of having a secret life. As she tries to negotiate her way through her conflicting feelings of guilt and desire, she realizes that adulthood is full of paradoxes with which she's not yet ready to deal. Set against the backdrop of an emotional election and the start of a tumultuous decade, this atypical coming-of-age story from Cook (creative writing & literature, Prescott Coll.) considers more than a young girl's erotic and emotional awakening; it's the story of an entire generation growing up too quickly. The story may start quietly, but its deceptively simple premise builds to a tense situation that makes this debut impossible to put down until the dramatic and realistic conclusion. Highly recommended for all public libraries." -Kellie Gillespie, City of Mesa Lib., AZ"

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2006
Adult/High School -Laura Tate, barely 16 and in charge of the household after her mother runs away, is drawn into an affair with her father -s married coworker and poker buddy. Readers are kept in suspense as the tension grows; the lies multiply and complicate the plot and finally lead to tragedy, and the book ends on just the right note of ambiguity. This is a brilliant depiction of the coming of age of a sensitive protagonist who aches for new experiences, is open to new ideas, and longs for answers to family secrets, but it is more than a bildungsroman. The Texas town, its inhabitants, its climate, and the national events of the 1960s all impact Laura -s story and result in emotionally charged scenes with vivid writing. It unfolds from Laura -s point of view, with italicized chapters that provide background and hints of family secrets interspersed with the main narrative. This device is enlightening and unobtrusive, providing readers with insights, if not answers, to the questions that torment the protagonist." -Jackie Gropman, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.