The Silver Star: A Novel
Jeannette Walls
Language: English
Pages: 304
ISBN: 1451661541
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls’ gripping new novel that "transports us with her powerful storytelling...She contemplates the extraordinary bravery needed to confront real-life demons in a world where the hardest thing to do may be to not run away" (O, The Oprah Magazine).
It is 1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations.
An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, and the sisters start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Liz is whip-smart—an inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox.
Jeannette Walls has written a deeply moving novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love each other and the world, despite its flaws and injustices.
Suddenly, I was furious. “You’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?” “How dare you speak to me like that? I’m your mother.” “Then act like one for a change. We wouldn’t be in this whole mess if you had been acting like a mom all along.” I had never talked to Mom like that before. As soon as I said it, I realized I had gone too far, but it was too late. Mom sat down at the table and started sobbing. She tried to be a good mother, she said, but it was so hard. She didn’t know what to do or where
expression. “You’re telling me you want to stay in Byler because you fell in love with a couple of big, disgusting birds that happened to walk up the driveway?” “They need me. There’s no one else to look after them.” “We don’t belong here,” Mom said. “The emus don’t belong here, either,” Liz said, “but they’re here.” Mom started to say something and then stopped. “We’ll keep the darn birds,” Uncle Tinsley told Tater. Then he looked at Liz. “But only if you go back to school.” “All right,”
everything potentially salvageable—to the left of the gate and we spent most of the afternoon rummaging through boxes full of broken old stuff, examining eggbeaters, testing typewriters, and spinning the dials on old radios. Dog had a field day chewing on chicken bones and chasing rats. Joe found a neat wind-up clock he thought he could fix, and he brought it with him when we left at the end of the afternoon. We walked back across the bridge and along Holladay Avenue, Dog at our heels. After
you’re going all the way to Virginia? Heck of a long journey for two pretty young gals to be making on their own.” “None of your business,” Liz told him. She sat down. “A total perv,” she whispered to me. “I can’t believe you told that odiosity where we were going. That’s such a Bean-headed thing to do.” The Perv took his seat but kept staring over at us, so Liz decided we needed to move. The only two free seats were at the very back, next to the bathroom. You could smell the chemicals and the
“You don’t happen to know how to get to Tinsley Holladay’s house, do you?” The woman studied Liz with sudden interest. “Mayfield?” she asked. “The Holladay house? You all know Tinsley Holladay?” “He’s our uncle,” I said. Liz gave me a glance that said I should let her do the talking. “Well, knock me over with a feather. You all are Charlotte’s girls?” “That’s right,” Liz said. “Where’s your momma?” “We’re visiting on our own,” Liz said. The woman locked the depot door. “It’s quite a hike