Giovanni's Light: The Story of a Town Where Time Stopped for Christmas
Added by: badaboom | Karma: 5366.29 | Fiction literature | 30 November 2011
2
Giovanni's Light: The Story of a Town Where Time Stopped for Christmas
A pre-Christmas blizzard alters the emotional and physical landscape of the idyllic village of Ryland Falls in this well-crafted holiday parable. Theroux (Serefina Under the Circumstances) introduces characters at a sprightly pace throughout the brief book, but there are three central figures: Giovanni, a mountain recluse who ventures into town once a year to sell Christmas trees; a frustrated part-time art teacher named Will Campbell; and plucky 11-year-old Miranda Bridgeman, who wants to be a writer.
Julie Collins is stuck in a dead-end secretarial job with the Bear Butte County Sheriff’s office, and still grieving over the unsolved murder of her Lakota half-brother. Lack of public interest in finding his murderer, or the killer of several other transient Native American men, has left Julie with a bone-deep cynicism she counters with tequila, cigarettes, and dangerous men. The one bright spot in her mundane life is the time she spends working part-time as a PI with her childhood friend, Kevin Wells. When the body of a sixteen-year old white girl is discovered in nearby Rapid Creek, Julie believes this victim will receive the attention others were denied.
Ian Rankin - Dead Souls A call from an old friend brings back memories and more than a little guilt for DI John Rebus. An old schoolfriend's son has gone missing, the ghost of Jack Morton is inhabiting Rebus' dreams, a part-time poisoner is terrorising the local zoo and a freed paedophile rouses the vigilantes.