Halley

Starred review from September 1, 2014
A Depression-era novel is defined by the hard-edged beauty of its rural Southern setting. When 14-year-old Halley's father dies, in 1936, her mother capitulates to the demands of her own father, a strict Southern Baptist preacher, that the family move back home. Pa and Ma Franklin live in a farmhouse much like the one Halley leaves, only without the soft comforts-chief among them her brother Robbie's piano-Daddy had provided. Halley's a tough pragmatist, but she resents giving up her dream of attending high school to care for her aging grandmother. She even more strongly chafes at the fact that her mother must become a mill hand and turn her weekly pay packet over to Pa Franklin. Halley's growing sense of self and her mother's journey from grief to independence evolve slowly, changing like the seasons on the farm; the plot moves unhurriedly but with determination to the satisfying end. That Gibbons knows this hardscrabble world to the bone shows in every precise detail of chamber pot, buttermilk and cow-safe fencing.A richly rewarding look at an era. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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Starred review from November 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-As this historical novel opens, the title character, a 14-year-old girl living in the mountains of Georgia, is recording her father's recent death in the family bible. After this sad start, things only get harder for Halley, her younger brother, and their mother Kate. They move in with Kate's parents: a cruel preacher, his put-upon wife, and their youngest son. Kate takes a dangerous job at the local mill, while every action Halley tries to improve their lot-taking on sewing jobs to raise money to buy a gravestone for her father, trying to get accepted to a boarding school for farmers' children-is thwarted by her vicious grandfather. He steals her savings, whips her brother, intercepts her mail, and tries to stop his children from marrying the people they love. Gibbons perfectly captures the cadences of Georgia hill country speech; it is rhythmic and lovely, even when the characters are speaking of hard, rough things. The narrative is peppered with bits of true history-there is a woman photographer based on Dorothea Lange, an African American family making their living as potters, and Halley applies to attend Berry College, a real school, started in 1902. Although somewhat predictable, the plot is compelling as the author adeptly covers loss, coming of age, and small-town attitudes and values without sugarcoating. Gibbons expertly depicts the complexity in "simple" mountain life. Just as Janet Taylor Lisle's Black Duck (Philomel, 2006) showed an unusual side of Prohibition, this work gives a peek at an unusual side of the Great Depression. With shades of Richard Peck in this novel's DNA, Gibbons's tale features a strong and unique voice.-Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT

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