Lost Souls at the Neptune Inn

Carter (We Were Strangers Once) crafts an endearing, sweeping saga of strangers brought together. In three parts, spanning from 1929 to the early 1980s, Carter weaves the tangled web of her characters in fine, poetic detail. She begins in New Rochelle, N.Y., in 1929, with vain Geraldine Wingo, her dependable husband Earle, and their newborn girl, Emilia Mae. Geraldine never overcomes her fatigue from her colicky baby, whom she calls the devil child, and when Emilia turns 15, Geraldine sends her away to live and work as a charwoman at the nearby Neptune Inn. In the same year the Wingos had their baby girl, another couple in a remote Catskills lake town have a baby boy out of wedlock. Named Dillard Fox and raised by the father, Dillard matures into a good-looking, charming young man with musical talent who travels from job to job and town to town. In 1961, he meets the stoic Emilia Mae, now a single mother, and her bubbly nine-year-old daughter. Here, Carter connects the dots, unveiling a picture of an unconventional family made up of three generations of Wingos, their close friends, and Dillard, and the story comes alive through the honesty and raw emotion injected into the characters. Her unflinching look at the characters’ imperfections and boundless exploration into their minds makes for an exceptional tale. (Aug.)