cover image The Hound of Westover County

The Hound of Westover County

Glynn Custred. Aqueous (www.aqueousbooks.com), $14 trade paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-9847399-1-2

Custred, a professor of folklore, takes readers into the secret world of the Amish in the American Midwest. The novella takes place in Westover County, a shrinking community of Pennsylvania Dutch, forgotten by time and "scattered across the countryside like relics of times past" since the settlement's primary industry, grain processing, was outsourced to a nearby town. Custred follows two characters of the region%E2%80%94Stanley, a carpenter with a bachelor's degree in English; and Katie, the eldest daughter of a domineering Amish father and caretaker of her little siblings. Separately, Stanley and Katie have disturbingly close encounters with a menacing animal presence, though each dismisses their respective experiences as superstition. When Stanley inherits some money from his only relative, he builds a cabin on a remote river; soon after, he and Katie meet and marry. Custred spends the majority of the book setting the scene and describing the quiet, uneventful practicality of a country marriage, with the most dynamic action being inclement weather%E2%80%94until the phantasm of the beast begins to draw Katie out into the bleak night, with terrible consequences. While Custred does an admirable job of creating an uneasy atmosphere in this brief book, the actual story starts too late, and ends too soon. (Mar.)