The Solace of Leaving Early

May 27, 2002
A romance evolves in the wake of a domestic shooting in Kimmel's intelligent and compassionate debut novel, which brings two friends of one of the victims together in a small Indiana town. Amos Townsend is the male protagonist, a 40-ish preacher who counseled the late Alice Baker-Maloney as her frayed marriage degenerated into a fatal confrontation with her controlling husband, Jack. Amos remains tormented by his attraction to Alice and his inability to have prevented the tragedy. Meanwhile, bookish Langston Braverman has returned home after dropping out of her Ph.D. program following an affair with an academic colleague and subsequent nervous breakdown. The two clash after Langston's mother, AnnaLee, orders her to abandon her literary projects to care for Alice's two orphaned daughters; Amos accuses Langston of being unfit for the job when both girls continue to exhibit a bizarre variety of compulsive, religiously oriented behaviors. The girls' crisis continues to escalate, leading to a series of melodramatic scenes in which Amos and Langston are forced to confront their own demons. There are some winning moments as the protagonists move toward a romance, although things are hindered somewhat by the sluggish pace in the early going, as Kimmel (A Girl Named Zippy) meanders through scenes detailing smalltown Midwestern life and as she delves into the pasts of the two leads. Still, she proves a wise, compassionate and often very witty storyteller whose affection for her characters is contagious. Agent, Stella Connell. Author tour.

February 1, 2002
Once A Girl Named Zippy, Kimmel is now a novelist as well. Here, a young woman who has fled home, unable to face her Ph.D. orals, encounters the death of a friend and two girls who claim to speak with the Virgin Mary.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2002
It's not often that a character will use the phrase "existentially insulting" to describe a task she's being asked to do, but Langston Braverman does just that when she's asked to take care of the children of her dead childhood friend, Alice. Langston returned to her parents' house in the small town of Haddington, Indiana, after walking out of her Ph.D. defense and fleeing graduate school. Langston wants nothing to do with the world, and she hides herself away from the details of Alice's shocking death. To draw her out, her mother forces her to help Beulah, Alice's mother, with Alice's two daughters, who, claiming to have seen the Virgin Mary, are now calling themselves Immaculata and Epiphany. The town's minister, Amos Townsend, who is still smarting from the guilt of not being able to save Alice, is also helping with the children, and he and Langston clash about what is best for them. Kimmel's debut novel boasts vast theological and philosophical thought as well as unusual but compelling characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)