cover image All We Know of Heaven

All We Know of Heaven

Sue Ellen Bridgers. John F. Blair Publisher, $22 (212pp) ISBN 978-0-9635967-4-1

Set in rural North Carolina during the Depression, YA author Bridgers's first novel for adults relies heavily on homespun truths spoken by country folk straight from central casting and on the mysterious nature of the heroine's lover. When Bethany Newell first spies handsome Joel Calder standing over a disemboweled hog, she notices that his ""hands were slimy with blood,"" but she doesn't notice the obvious foreshadowing embedded in that fact. Instead, over the objections of her stern Aunt Charlotte, Bethany falls headlong in love, quickly marrying and bearing the child of the tender--but easily angered--Joel. The novel owes its momentum to Bridgers's intentionally hazy portrayal of Joel. The reader is supposed to be riveted by the question of whether Joel is misunderstood and maligned for having accidentally shot his baby sister while still a child himself, or whether Charlotte is right and Joel is a monster just waiting to reveal his true colors. Bridgers breaks her tale into too many short chapters narrated by too many characters. This profusion of voices leads to a diffusion of tension and drama. By the time the improbable conclusion occurs, those readers who have stuck with the story will find themselves shrugging rather than weeping. (Oct.)