Winter Run

July 15, 2002
Ashcom uses a young boy's love of animals as the vehicle for a graceful, compassionate ode to farm life in a bygone era in his elegiac debut novel. The book revolves around the childhood of Charlie Lewis as he grows up on a Virginia farm in the 1940s, with each chapter constructed around a different incident involving the various farm animals and local critters. It takes a few chapters for Ashcom to find his prose rhythm, as he presents some background on Charlie's father, a logger, and an episode of animal abuse by a neighbor that infuriates both the boy and the community. Next follow accounts featuring wild dogs and a boar, followed by the story of a hunt for a mysterious gray fox, and finally an especially touching yarn about the death of the family mule as Charlie goes to extraordinary lengths to give it a proper burial. The dark side of farm life is portrayed when a fire threatens the small town, but Ashcom balances that incident with a humorous story in which Charlie is given a pony that turns out to have a serious rebellious streak. The subtext of the book is the boy's unique but understated relationships with the town's second-class African-American residents. Ashcom is a smooth, compassionate writer who displays a nice feel for nature, local color, his animal and human subjects (though strong female characters are noticeably lacking), and a flair for tweaking the heartstrings without crossing the line into mawkishness. This is more a collection of related stories than a true novel, but there's enough talent and charm in these rural yarns to mark Ashcom as a promising newcomer. (Nov. 1)Forecast:Booksellers might recommend this to James Herriot fans and other animal story lovers. Five-city author tour.

November 1, 2002
Soon after the end of World War II, Gretchen and Charles Lewis move with their son, Charlie, to a farm near the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. At age five, Charlie finds this rural setting to be heaven. The abundance of love and friendship from his mother, the old professor who lives in the big house, and the elderly Negro farmhand, Matthew, creates an idyllic world ripe for exploration. Learning country ways from Matthew and feeling compelled to make them his own, Charlie experiences firsthand the dangers of the hog lot, befriends a cranky mule for want of a horse to ride, and discovers his love for hunting dogs by adopting a stray and taking up 'possum hunting with Matthew's friends. Country life can be shockingly cruel, however, as Charlie discovers after an incident with a pack of wild dogs during a long, hard winter. Ashcom's first novel is a tender tale of discovery that will appeal to that special man with sensitivity, respect for life, and a love of God-a reader overlooked by popular literature. Recommended for public libraries.-Thomas L. Kilpatrick, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2002
Rural Virginia in the 1940s was a magical place into which modernity had not yet crept. This attracted city dwellers Charles and Gretchen, who moved there after World War II with their precocious son, Charlie. Charlie was inquisitive about everything, especially nature. He had a knack with animals, almost uncannily knew what they were thinking. He also had a knack for seeming more grown-up than he was, which endeared him to the adults of the community. Especially since there were few other children around, the adults took care of Charlie--he was always around, and they didn't mind. Charlie also had a knack for mixing equally well with the black folks who worked on the farm and in the town, along with the white landowners and the professor-patriarch of the community. Ashcom creates a very sweet, almost mystical tale of a boy who was amazed by what nature brought him, his growing up, and his understanding that all things, even life as he knows it, are passing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)