What Blooms from Dust

April 23, 2018
In this enchanting allegory, Markert (All Things Bright and Strange) crafts an imaginative tale of the Dust Bowl. In 1930s Oklahoma, Jeremiah Goodbye, known as the Coin-Flip Killer, was supposed to die in the electric chair, but a well-timed tornado spares his life and causes him to reconsider his past evil deeds. After being whisked away by the tornado, he decides to return to his hometown of Nowhere, Okla., with Peter, an odd young boy he rescues from the storm. Jeremiah has a score to settle with his twin brother, Josiah, who turned him in to the police and married the woman he once loved—but the unrelenting, almost supernatural weather may prove to be his toughest enemy. When a mammoth dust storm rolls across the plains and envelopes Nowhere, Jeremiah and Peter take on the Herculean task of clearing out their neighbors who are buried under a mountain of dust. Markert creatively portrays the timeless battle between good and evil, making for a powerful story of hope and redemption.

Starred review from May 15, 2018
Jeremiah Goodbye was supposed to die in the electric chair, but a tornado strikes, destroying the prison and killing everyone but him. He escapes with nothing but a nonfatal jolt. As is his habit, the one that earned him the nickname Coin-Flip Killer, he flips a coin to decide whether or not to go home to Nowhere. But after the electric jolt, Jeremiah feels like he sees things more clearly, and after accidentally rescuing a small boy, he must confront his nightmares and try to help the fearful people of Nowhere. Beautifully detailed descriptions of what life was like during the Dust Bowl, the desperation and feelings of helplessness, are contrasted with small tokens of beauty and bonds of friendship and family. Though heavily spiritual, Markert's (All Thing Bright and Strange, 2018) nondogmatic approach to the unknown will also appeal to mainstream readers. Historical fiction at its finest that makes the reader want to learn more about the time and the people who lived there, and those who left.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)