Stony Kill

April 11, 2016
In Small's sprawling, evocative debut, Joss Ellen Ryckman stops running from her past and, after the death of her mother, returns to her childhood farm in upstate New York. The book follows Joss as she navigates owning the Brooklyn bakery her mother startedâwhich she's been managing since she was 20âand then moving into the farmhouse. Small's expansive prose spares no expense on powerful and descriptive details. Much of the book is spent in reminiscence as Joss spins endlessly in the revolving door of memory, comparing her life now with her childhood on the farm. Her memories circle mainly around her father, Big Paul, who called her "Paulie-girl" or "Boy-o" and had a set of expectations Joss is only now realizing she could never live up to. Among a larger cast of characters, past and present, the winding narrative follows Joss coming to terms with her own agency and realizing that the past doesn't necessarily determine the future. Joss also decides to stop hiding from two family tragedies: one of her mother's and one of her own. These haunting moments bookend the narrative and illuminate the raw edges of Joss' experience. This deeply expressive book is a fine exploration of personal history and the significance of place as a means of finding oneself.

October 15, 2015

Brooklyn cafe owner and baker Joss Ryckman was dressed in pink by her mother but called "Paulie-girl" and "Boy-o" by her father, Paul. Now a grown woman, she's still living in the shadow of the hopes and wishes of her parents. When her mother dies, Joss returns to her mother's ancestral home in Cannan, NY, a place haunted by tragedies. She lives the dual life that her mother did 20 years before, traveling between Canaan and Brooklyn. But the men in her life want more from her. Wyatt, a combat veteran who loves her, is fighting to remain by her side even as she pushes him away. She is also pulled back to the city by another in a long series of acts of gun violence by her aging and volatile father. VERDICT Joss's understanding her father's penchant for violence and anger takes a long time to unfold. The book relies heavily on dialog that doesn't always propel the narrative. In the end, this debut author still provides a gripping snapshot of a dysfunctional family torn apart by their own doing.--Susan Santa, Syosset P.L., NY

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