Going to Bend

This warm, surprising first novel is about friendship in a small Oregon town where everyone knows too much about everyone else, yet even the oldest friends have hidden important truths from each other. Spunky, hard-luck Petie Coolbaugh and kind, soft-shelled Rose Bundy have been close since childhood. This story finds them raising children without enough money, trying to manage a loser husband (Petie) and a skittish boyfriend (Rose) and get a little ahead cooking soups for the new café in town. Bad things happen, good things happen, mistakes are made and forgiven. Hillary Huber delineates each character with such delicacy that you somehow see whole flesh-and-blood people, and care about all of them. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine


This warm, surprising first novel is about friendship in a small Oregon town where everyone knows too much about everyone else, yet even the oldest friends have hidden important truths from each other. Spunky, hard-luck Petie Coolbaugh and kind, soft-shelled Rose Bundy have been close since childhood. This story finds them raising children without enough money, trying to manage a loser husband (Petie) and a skittish boyfriend (Rose) and get a little ahead cooking soups for the new café in town. Bad things happen, good things happen, mistakes are made and forgiven. Hillary Huber delineates each character with such delicacy that you somehow see whole flesh-and-blood people, and care about all of them. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

December 1, 2003
Lifelong friends Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy laugh, love and try to make ends meet in the "no-account" Oregon coastal fishing town of Hubbard in Hammond's shining first novel. Petie, the mother of two boys, is "small and hard and tight and flammable, like the wick of a candle," while Rose, the single mom of a teenage girl, is "a big soft woman of calm purpose and measurable serenity." They've just started supplying homemade soup for the new cafe in town, Souperior, owned by Nadine and Gordon Erickson, fraternal twins fresh from Southern California. Petie, a scrappy survivor of poverty and an abusive father, is given to spot-on observations: Nadine, is "all nerves, snip and anxiety" and "living proof that some people shouldn't give up smoking." Rose, with her gentle heart and tranquil solidity, has compassion for Nadine and especially for Gordon, who is dying of AIDS. When Gordon gives Rose the opportunity to write a cookbook—which she insists Petie illustrate—the women's lives radically change, as they give expression to their hidden talents and the future seems full of hope and promise. But life is never uncomplicated, and Hammond shines an unwavering light on a group of people who struggle to make do, yet who live their lives and cope with hardship with grace and dignity. Her clean, sharp prose, idiosyncratic dialogue and deep insight into relationships embellish this heartfelt debut. (Jan. 20)

Forecast:
With its parallels to
Fried Green Tomatoes—not to mention a blurb from Fannie Flagg herself—this novel is poised to appeal to a hefty chunk of the female reading population.

Starred review from August 1, 2004
First novelist Hammond deftly portrays daily life in a small Oregon fishing town in the 1980s. Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy, friends since grade school, begin making soup for Souperiors, a caf run by twin California transplants Nadine and Gordon Erickson. Economics forces Nadine to lay off the more needy Petie, while Gordon and Rose produce a cookbook to promote the caf . Hammond's characters enliven small-town life and the people who struggle to make do during times of hardship. Hillary Huber excels at her portrayal of Petie and Rose, but her repertoire for the rest of the cast isn't as distinctive. Still, highly recommended for general collections. Sandy Glover, Camas P.L., WA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.