cover image This Side of Providence

This Side of Providence

Rachel M. Harper. Prospect Park (Consortium, dist.), $16 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-938849-76-3

In her second novel, Harper (Brass Ankle Blues) focuses on a young family living in a derelict neighborhood in Providence, R.I., in the late 1990s. Arcelia fled Puerto Rico with her young daughter, Luz, to escape her history of physical and sexual abuse. Her son, Cristo, joins her later, but Arcelia falls into drug and alcohol addiction as well as prostitution. In the tense opening scene, Arcelia is pursued by the police and lands in prison for several months, leaving 11-year-old Cristo to try to hold the rest of the family together without landing on the wrong side of the law himself. Aided by his fourth-grade teacher Miss Valentín and the family’s enigmatic landlord, Snowman, both of whom have their own motivations for becoming attached to the boy, street-smart Cristo is clearly as bright as his book-smart younger sister, and his pursuit of fulfilling emotional relationships hints at a more positive future. Chapters are narrated by Cristo, Arcelia, Luz, Miss Valentín, and a handful of others in credible voices, although the prose lacks nuance, heavily broadcasting the thematic heft of certain passages. Hope is hard-won here, but the story of Arcelia’s family is powerful. (Apr.)