Amaryllis in Blueberry [Deckle Edge] [Paperback]

Christina Meldrum (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 8, 2011

In the stirring tradition of The Secret Life of Bees and The Poisonwood Bible, Amaryllis in Blueberry explores the complexity of human relationships set against an unforgettable backdrop. Told through the haunting voices of Dick and Seena Slepy and their four daughters, Christina Meldrum's soulful novel weaves together the past and the present of a family harmed--and healed--by buried secrets.

"Maybe, unlike hope, truth couldn't be contained in a jar..." 

Meet the Slepys: Dick, the stern doctor, the naive husband, a man devoted to both facts and faith; Seena, the storyteller, the restless wife,  a mother of four, a lover of myth.  And their children, the Marys:  Mary Grace, the devastating beauty; Mary Tessa, the insistent inquisitor; Mary Catherine, the saintly, lost soul; and finally, Amaryllis, Seena's unspoken favorite, born with the mystifying ability to sense the future, touch the past and distinguish the truth tellers from the most convincing liar of all.
 
When Dick insists his family move from Michigan to the unfamiliar world of Africa for missionary work, he can't possibly foresee how this new land and its people will entrance and change his daughters--and himself--forever.
 
Nor can he predict how Africa will spur his wife Seena toward an old but unforgotten obsession.   In fact, Seena may be falling into a trance of her own. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Meldrum's intoxicating first adult novel (after 2010's Madapple) a family undertakes West African missionary work only to find its members profoundly transformed. Polish-American pathologist Dick Slepy lives with his bohemian wife, Christina "Seena," in Danish Landing, Mich. They have four daughters, each following the other by two years. There's pretty Mary Grace, now 18. Mary Catherine is "always-obedient" and pious, whereas Mary Tessa is a "trouble-maker-in-training," and the precocious Amaryllis, their youngest at 11, is an "emotional synesthete," who tastes, smells, and otherwise "consumes" the pain, rage, love, or joy of others, and is suspiciously dark-featured. Fearing that his wife is having an affair, Dick seeks the council of his local priest, Father Amadi, who suggests the Slepys take a mission to West Africa to help his nephew, Mawuli, run an aid organization. They go, but the mission is anything but the salve Dick had hoped for, and one event after another—including unplanned pregnancies, accusations of molestation, the discovery of affairs, attempted murder, and Seena being tried in a local court—shove the family into deep crisis. With every chapter, Meldrum jumps viewpoints and shifts time and space (between Michigan and West Africa in the summer and fall of 1976), creating a momentum that masks a lack of imagination. Yet her combination of coming-of-age and culture clash narratives has a seductive intensity. (Mar.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

By the time the Slepy family relocates from rural Michigan to remote West Africa, due to Dick�s impulsive notion that he should become a medical missionary to atone for his prurient behavior, they were already in disarray. Mother Seena pines for her lover, the family�s biracial priest, while Dick tries to reconcile his hypocritical love for the Virgin Mary with his hedonistic lust for decidedly nonvirginal prostitutes and porn stars. Their four daughters, three named Mary, cope with their neglectful absentee parenting in their own ways. Vain Mary Grace is pregnant, the result of a one-night stand with her loser boyfriend, Rocky. Pious Mary Catherine is in end-stage anorexia. Arrogant Mary Tessa holds everyone in high disdain. Only the youngest, Amaryllis, nicknamed Yllis, sees into everyone�s souls, an ability that brings as much woe as wisdom. Meldrum�s highly anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed Madapple (2010) again delves into issues of identity and faith, with disarming results. --Carol Haggas

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (February 8, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439156891
• ISBN-13: 978-1439156896
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #999,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christina M. Meldrum is the author of the award-winning novel MADAPPLE and of AMARYLLIS IN BLUEBERRY, forthcoming in February 2011 from Gallery, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read! February 9, 2011

By Bookworm

Format:Paperback

I loved this book! I read Christina Meldrum's last book, Madapple, and bought this one as soon as it was released. I love her writing style. It is both detailed and beautiful. When you read her books, you are entertained, challenged and educated! I can't wait for the next book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A COMPLEX COMPELLING STORY OF FORGIVENESS,LOVE AND OBESSION! AMARYLLIS IN BLUEBERRY BY CHRISTINA MELDRUM February 8, 2011

By April A. Renn

Format:Paperback

AMARYLLIS IN BLUEBERRY by Christina Meldrum is a contemporary historical fiction set in 1970's Michigan and Africa.It is written in a series of flashbacks from the past to the present. It intertwines past history/story with present. It has adultery,forgiveness,redemption,love,family saga,murder,meditation of faith,loyalty,love,
acceptance,Africa,missionaries,fate,buried secrets,sacrifice,slavery,culture difference,exploration of faith,synesthete(visions of artificial light around someone or something)and truth. This is the story of a husband's(Dick) obsession of his wife,Seena,a wife(Seena) who has committed adultery years before,is accused of her husband's murder and four daughters with four secrets.The youngest daughter,Amaryllis,is the child in question,she was born in an Blueberry patch.This is a compelling story of love and a family being forced from their home in Michigan to take up roots as a missionary in Africa,their trials,tributations and culture shock.If you enjoy a complex story with many facets this is a story for you. This book was received for the purpose of review from Gallery Books and details can be found .0at Gallery Books,a division of Simon & Schuster,Inc. and My Book Addiction and More.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!! February 10, 2011

By Marv Rosen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I couldn't put it down. A fantastic read. It kept me up until its satisfying finish...page after page well into the night.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Must Read! April 9, 2011

By Darlene

Format:Paperback

Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum is another novel that will make my favorites list this year! This novel is so beautifully written and full of emotion, both good and bad, that it will capture you from the beginning and not let go until you turn the very last page and truthfully not even then; I'm still thinking about this story. Also, this cover - have you ever seen anything so beautiful!

This story is different in that it starts with the ending. Yes, strange but once you read the book, very fitting. The author does not give away the whole ending - just pieces that are revealed bit by bit as you come towards the actual end of the novel. It's also a story that jumps around a lot - different narrators and there is always the before and the after and even while in Africa the story jumps back to Michigan with more background. While it may sound like it would be confusing, it isn't. Amazingly it all flows so well - one piece into the next until you are just left amazed by the way the story unfolds before your eyes.

The Slepy's are a dysfunctional family to say the least. You know that right off the start. There is Dick and Seena and their four daughters - Mary Grace, Mary Catherine, Mary Tessa, and Amaryllis who was born in a blueberry patch and is considered the strangest of her family with her very wild imagination. The thing is that Yllis as they call Amaryllis is special; she can see and feel what others can't. She is also more special to her mother at the expense of the other girls for reasons that become apparent as you read on through the novel.

Seena is an emotionally distant mother who seems more buried in her books than anything else. She doesn't see anything around her or if she does she just brushes it off.... She is so distant and involved in herself that she doesn't see truly scary behaviors manifesting in any of her girls. Dick is a father who is a devout Catholic and very particular about the ways in which he wants things to be. When this doesn't happen and he begins to see huge breaks in his family structure he asks his priest what he should do. The answer - pick up and move your entire family to Africa and become a medical missionary. Dick, wanting nothing more than to run from his personal demons, does just this.

Even before Africa the girls, especially Mary Grace and Mary Catherine, had problems. However, upon arriving in Africa, everything spirals out of control for all of them. Dick and Seena, as usual, seem preoccupied with themselves until the things happening with their girls become to big for even them to ignore. I hate to say too much because I don't want to give away the heart of the story and it is the development of these characters and their issues in this novel that will be what grabs you and twists you in many different directions. The story jumps from each of the girls to Seena and Dick, growing with momentum, until we come to the startling ending that even I didn't see coming.

Amaryllis in Blueberry is the perfect novel for a book club. I really wish I had a group of people I could have discussed Amaryllis in Blueberry with and luckily for book groups there is a Reading Group Guide on the author's website. This novel spans many topics ranging from marriage, infidelity, faith, love, eating disorders, cutting, and probably many more. It is an emotionally complex and deep novel; one that will leave you thinking about it's dynamics long after you've finished it. Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum is a novel I would recommend for those who like literary fiction. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Took my breath! March 19, 2011

By Carla Ford VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I swear, every time I put this book down, I felt like I had run a
marathon! I couldn't put it down between chapters because every time
I picked it up, there was a little bit more revealed, or uncovered. I
had to pay attention to keep up with the characters, but it was worth
it, and not really not all that complicated. Family dynamics are
always a little confusing, and these are certainly not the exception.
Dick and Seena marry, and have four daughters: Mary Grace, Mary
Catherine, Mary Tessa and Amaryllis. This book is their story, and the
story of the secrets they each hold, secrets that both bind them
together and tear them apart until gradually all of the secrets are
revealed, unleashing not only tragedy but clarity. This novel holds so
much raw emotion, I was just riveted to each page.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars BookHounds [...] March 12, 2011

By Mary Bookhounds VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

All I can say is WOW! This book reminds me when I first read The Help and The Secret Life of Bees and has a very strong balance of characters that will make you think. This is going to be THE book for book groups this year and one that I can't stop thinking about or telling people about.

The story revolves around 4 sisters and their mother and the father is the catalyst for their actions. Each girl tells her own story and relates the events through their own eyes while interweaving the story between them. Seena, the mother, is the cornerstone and finds ways to intertwine Greek mythology while relating her own history. Each of the Mary's, Grace, Catie and Tessa are the core while Amaryllis, while still a Mary, is not truly one of the family. Each one is so distinct and the plot so well developed that I hate even saying one word about it because you must read this book!

Just Added: The ideal of all the girls named Mary is not that uncommon. My French - Indian Grandmother was one of seven girls all named Mary and of course they went by their middle names. From what I remember, it was a Catholic thing. There are two girls in my family, but I am the only Mary.