A land war in a Florida coastal town during
World War I is the centerpiece of Man
in the Blue Moon by Michael
Morris (A
Place Called Wiregrass, Slow
Way Home). Ella Wallace's gambling, opium-addicted husband has
disappeared. Struggling to raise their three young sons and keep her general
store and land from foreclosure, Ella is forced to choose between making a partial
payment on the property or paying the freight charges for a fancy clock her
husband must've ordered before he vanished in the hope it might pay off her
debt.
Ella's decision
complicates matters in the quiet little town. And when Lanier Stillis, a
distant cousin of Ella's absent husband shows up under mysterious
circumstances, her dilemma takes surprising twists and turns. Is this man, with
"Samson-like" blond hair and eyes that sparkle with "either hope
or mischief," running from trouble? When Lanier miraculously heals one of
Ella's sons and makes a lame mule walk, Ella suspects he might be an answer to
prayer. But as interest in the stranger mounts, some in town perceive him as a
charlatan. His presence exacerbates the land battle, forcing a conniving banker
and the local preacher to begin to claw at each other.
Spiritual undercurrents
abound in this well-plotted novel that raises provocative questions about faith
and providence. With astute perception, Morris
has crafted a story, rooted in true events, about survival at the turn of the
century, plausibly fathoming small town life - and the judgments and modus
operandi found therein.
Man in the Blue Moon by Michael Morris
Tyndale House Publishers, $19.99,
Hardcover, 9781414368429, 400 pp
Publication Date: September 1,
2012
Please note:
This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with
the permission of Shelf Awareness.
To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (9/11/12),
click HERE.