Call It Horses

January 25, 2021
A woman reconciles with the wishes of a late surrogate mother figure in Van Eerden’s elegiac epistolary novel (after the essay collection The Long Weeping). Frankie, 36, was raised by her aunt Mave after her parents died, and had been penpals with her aunt’s lover, Ruth, a professor of Mave’s who encouraged Frankie’s writerly ambitions and later died. Now, Frankie continues writing letters to Ruth as a sort of tribute to that wish. With Mave stricken by cancer, the two, along with Frankie’s beautiful friend, Nan, embark on a road trip to New Mexico to honor Mave’s love of Georgia O’Keeffe. Along the way, Mave, who refused to pack any of her pills except for “the good ones,” hints at her impending mortality while Frankie feels unnerved by Mave sharing new details about Ruth with Nan, whose youth, beauty, and ease make Frankie jealous. Frankie holds Ruth close while drafting atmospheric details of their journey (“The bright line of I-40 would pull us into places dried out nearer the sun. It would not be your Sinai Desert, Ruth, or your ancient manuscripts studied on sabbaticals, but it’s what we could manage”) as the narrative slowly builds to a poignant resolution. The quirky characters and rich landscapes will keep readers invested. Agent: Michael Snell, Michael Snell Literary.

Starred review from February 15, 2021
Desperate to leave ""the bog"" of West Virginia before cancer overtakes her, Mave resolves to see Georgia O'Keefe's West. She enlists her niece, Frankie, to drive her westward, but unreliable vehicles threaten to stall Mave's last trip. Nan, who is fleeing her abusive husband, Dillon, provides a car. This is the same Dillon whom Frankie still loves, even though she is married to Clay. At the last moment, Clay's hound dog, Ellis, comes along for the ride. Though the setup may sound like a soap opera, this picaresque novel is anything but. Van Eerden's sentences spill over with lush imagery and stunning language; she knows and loves these women, and readers will come to feel tenderly toward hard-edged Mave, who returned to Appalachia after her one great love, Ruth, died. Frankie has lived a small life, but she sees regions within people. Her thoughts drive the story in the form of unsent letters to the long-dead Ruth, who, through Mave, saw Frankie's facility with words, and again, through Mave, encouraged her. For her part, Mave, even through gasping breaths, tells Frankie to ""write it all."" Even Nan, who seems vain and empty, reveals surprising depths. A thoughtful, sometimes humorous, novel.

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