From a gifted new storyteller comes a warm, funny and endearing tale of life and love off the beaten track. Pat Lloyd has spent her entire life in Kilgore - a small town off the Interstate set amidst the subtle beauty of the rolling hills and sagebrush-covered plains of the West. Known by all the townspeople as intelligent, likeable, and a bit odd, Pat works at her Pop's mercantile and fills the rest of her hours with mail order books and the solitude of day dreams. But just when Pat's existence seems settled, Alma Rose, a charming and vivacious trucker with elaborately tooled cowboy boots and a mouth that gallops ahead of her mind, rumbles off the highway and into Pat's life, changing it forever. Inspired by her passion for Alma Rose and the unforeseen intensity of desire, Pat transforms her life into a startling - and monumental - testament to the power of love. A brilliant debut novel filled with memorable characters and the vibrant spirit of the West, Alma Rose will strike a chord in the heart of every reader.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Curl up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and this book by first novelist Forbes. It's worth reading far into the night for the way it spins out its story with good humor, likable characters, and even a couple of plot twists. Sit back and read about taciturn Pat Lloyd, whose daily routine in Kilgore, the sleepy town off the highway, barely has a ripple in it until a truck driver named Alma Rose bursts onto the scene and focuses her relentless charm and energy on Pat. Soon she wins Pat over, in much the same way that Ann wins over Evelyn in Jane Rule's Desert of the Heart (Naiad Pr., 1985). When Alma stops coming to Kilgore, Pat creates ripples of her own by carving a statue of Alma's likeness into a hillside beside the highway. Showing a special affection for similes, the author writes effortlessly, creating characters that are genuinely warm and believable. Fortunately, she avoids the pitfall of making Peggy Treadwell, the town's voice of morality, into a stereotype. Highly recommended.
- Lisa Nussbaum, Euclid P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Lisa Nussbaum, Euclid P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Romance with eyes wide open,
By A Customer
This review is from: Alma Rose: A Novel (Forbes, Edith) (Paperback)
Doesn't matter that this is a love story between two women - it could as easily be any forbidden love. It is about love so big outsiders can't see it. It is about being changed so much by love, waking up so much, that trivial things like "facts" and broken hearts don't matter any more. It's about owning your own life, and never being a victim. This is a book about the wisdom of learning that what happens TO you doesn't matter so much as how you respond. It is an utterly Romantic book, in the best, old sense of the word, and I would recommend it to anyone of any persuasion. (It was recommended to me by a straight woman.)
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alma Rose is best lesbian literature I've ever read.,
By lkriegh@gw.hamline.edu (Oregon) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alma Rose: A Novel (Forbes, Edith) (Paperback)
Without a doubt, the novel "Alma Rose" is the best book I've ever read with a lesbian main character. Frankly, I'm biased against the genre, but this book set me, uh, straight. What most struck me was the beautiful language and the thoughtfulness of the narrative. It is a heart-rending book that also makes you think.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mental microcosm painted in reader's head,
By A Customer
This review is from: Alma Rose (Paperback)
The introverted world of a small town woman is described as she blossoms, wilts and fights the truth of a love gone forever. The supporting characters come to life with a realism that reminds me of co-workers and neighbors. As the secret world of the main character's head enters the reader's head, the similarity and diversity of perception are simultaneously evoked. In the end, the unyeilding truth of change continues on unchanged, while a mountain of stone yeilds to the chisel of a sculpture dedicated to hope and the past
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
"YOU ALWAYS WERE AN ODD CHILD, Pat." Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Alma Rose, Peggy Treadwell, Seco Springs, Clay Shipley, Leonard Kinley, Father Paul, Joe Danziger, Chuck Eiseley, Gladys Gardner, Wall Drug, Lyle Gardner, Pat Lloyd, Reverend Kinley, Aunt Rose, Cora Eastman, Diet Coke, Gary Pilcher, Miss Odegard, Wendy Corcoran New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
"YOU ALWAYS WERE AN ODD CHILD, Pat." Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Alma Rose, Peggy Treadwell, Seco Springs, Clay Shipley, Leonard Kinley, Father Paul, Joe Danziger, Chuck Eiseley, Gladys Gardner, Wall Drug, Lyle Gardner, Pat Lloyd, Reverend Kinley, Aunt Rose, Cora Eastman, Diet Coke, Gary Pilcher, Miss Odegard, Wendy Corcoran New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 7
books:
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18
books
cite this book:
See all 18 books citing this book
- The Dyke and the Dybbuk: A Novel by Galford in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Gaudi Afternoon: A Cassandra Reilly Mystery by Barbara Wilson in Front Matter
- Working Parts: A Novel by Bledsoe in Front Matter
- Exit to Reality: A Novel (Forbes, Edith) by Edith Forbes in Front Matter
- Where the Oceans Meet by Mandava in Front Matter
See all 7 books this book cites
- Exit to Reality: A Novel (Forbes, Edith) by Edith Forbes in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- Nowle's Passing (Forbes, Edith) by Edith Forbes in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Liberating Minds: The Stories and Professional Lives of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Librarians and Their Advocates by Norman G. Kester on page 43
- The Lesbian Health Book: Caring for Ourselves by M.D. Jocelyn White in Back Matter
- The Case of the Orphaned Bassoonists: A Cassandra Reilly Mystery by Barbara Wilson in Back Matter
See all 18 books citing this book
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