O Little Town

by: Don Reid

Published by: David C. Cook

Reviewed by Linda Lee

Mt. Jefferson is a small fictional town, based on the author’s childhood hometown of Staunton, Virginia. It’s a town where not everyone knows everyone, but people are intertwined because of family, business, and legal matters, not to mention matters of the heart.

It is not quite 1960 and the police chief’s daughter is pregnant with the town doctor’s grandson. The pastor’s daughter is caught shoplifting. Walter Selman is an elderly man who is gravely ill. His mind can’t help but wonder about things that happened at the turn of the century. He doesn’t know about the problems his daughters are currently facing, but remembers well the problems he had then. It seems everyone has their own brand of problems and trouble. Will they have what it takes to work things out? Can each of them let go and offer or ask for the forgiveness that’s needed?

The problems, the ties that bind, and the soon-to-be ties of three families, are the pivotal points in the story. The atmosphere of the town, past and present, is also central to the story. Things happen you think as trite, until you remember this is 1958, and it’s happening in a small town where memories run deep and gossips are pedigreed with recognized lines of descent.

Don Reid, of the Statler Brothers, has won awards for his song writing, and in O Little Town, his first novel, he shows us why. He can tell a tale. The residents of his fictional town seem authentic and their problems are conceivable for any of us. The ways they find to deal with individual situations make you wonder what you would do under the same conditions. Life is hard, living the good life is harder. Reaching that goal without making mistakes is close to impossible. Everyone is in need of empathy, some of sympathy and others of absolution.

Hopefully, Reid will write another segment of the life of the residents of Mt. Jefferson and let us know how things turned out for these teenagers with problems and for their parents.

Armchair Interviews says: Makes you think of Jan Karon, the master of small town stories.

Author’s Web site: http://www.DonReid.net