Solemn

May 16, 2016
Buckhanon's (Conception) third novel focuses on the coming of age of Solemn Redvine, as well as life in the small town of Bledsoe, Miss. Solemn's life changes when a baby who could be her half-sibling is born to her neighbor Pearletta Hassle, and she sees Pearletta's husband throw the baby into a well. The plot becomes more complicated when Pearletta disappears and Earl Redvine, Solemn's father, commits a robbery, landing Solemn in a group home. Solemn's relatives, including older brother Landon and sister-in-law Akila, attempt to support her and look to the future, but her uneasy alliance with her roommate, a Chicago girl named Majority, makes the situation even more tense. Eventually, Majority and Solemn are forced to make a decision together about which directions to take in their respective lives. Buckhanon memorably depicts the difficulty of Solemn's situation, but as she attempts to move forward, Buckhanon also gives readers glimpses of hope. This standout novel is anchored by its vulnerable and brave heroine. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House.

March 1, 2016
In the still of the night, a young girl sees a man, who seems familiar, carelessly toss a baby down a well. The poor African-American community that calls Singer's Trailer Park in Bledsoe, Mississippi, home shuns the well. Although they know Gilroy Hassle murdered the child, no one is surprised when he gets a slap on the wrist rather than a murder charge. After all, black families don't matter much to the local police force. They haven't much respect for the mother, Pearletta, either. Born to successful parents, she fell prey to drugs, married the ne'er-do-well Gilroy, and sought comfort in the arms of another man: Solemn Redvine's father. Solemn suspects the child may be her kin, but discovering the truth may cost her her sanity. After witnessing the murder, Solemn begins hallucinating, even hearing the baby speak at her own funeral. Then Pearletta disappears. Justin Bolden, the only black officer on the local police force, had spent time answering drunken phone calls from grief-stricken Pearletta, so when she vanishes, his interest is piqued, particularly since she was last seen in a hotel room, back in the thrall of cocaine and accompanied by a red-haired man--a man a little too similar to the owner of the land underneath the trailer park. Buckhanon (Conception, 2008, etc.) crafts a hypnotic tale, poetically conjuring the intricate workings of Solemn's thoughts and ghostly visitations. Will Solemn be able to rise above the circumstances of her impoverished beginnings? Will she be able to rise above the discovery of her father's infidelity? As Solemn's troubles compound, veering inexorably toward a crime that shockingly severs father from daughter, Buckhanon deftly ratchets up the tension. Cast against the hardships of everyday life in Singer's Trailer Park, a young girl's troubled thoughts make for a heartbreaking story of broken promises.

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April 1, 2016
Change comes to Singer's Trailer Park, near the small town of Bledsoe, Mississippi, on the night young Solemn Redvine sees a man toss a baby into the community well. Solemn tells no one what she has seen, and shortly thereafter the baby's mother, Pearletta Hassle, vanishes. Only Solemn knows that her own father may be the dead baby's father, but it's a secret she keeps to herself. In the meantime, a local police officer, Justin Bolden, has become involved with both Pearletta's disappearance and also Solemn's family when the girl's father makes a singularly bad choice that will send his daughter to a group home for troubled girls. This may sound like a mystery, but it is, instead, a closely observed story of an African American family's struggle to make ends meet in an often inhospitable world. If the story has a fault, it is a slow pace that derives from a plot that tends to meander and burdens the reader with too much extraneous information. That said, the story's compassionate tone and rich characters will recommend it to fans of family fiction and Buckhanon's earlier work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)