From Publishers Weekly
Maloy explored northern landscapes and Quaker faith in her memoir
A Stone Bridge North; she returns to both in her moving debut novel. When 75-year-old Sarah Lucas's husband, Charles, succumbs to an injury at the peak of a particularly brutal Vermont winter, her worst later-life fears of physical mishap are realized. In grief, Sarah's memories take her back to the Great Depression, when her parents generously opened their home to countless friends and relatives, and to her own regretted missteps as a parent. The chance to recreate the one experience and rectify the other arrives uninvited when a variety of lost souls—Sarah's own teenage granddaughter; an Israeli pacifist; a devastated young mother and child—seek shelter and solace in Sarah's too-empty home. The motley assortment of characters, many of whom have been touched by violence, deliver passionate apostrophes on peace and justice, and together Sarah and her boarders discover unseen beauty in the landscape, uncover hidden talents and develop a nurturing, healing community. Maloy's wordplay and startling nature imagery enchant, but readers will have to decide if the spectacular climax, an expression of its characters' principles in action, is out of place with the novel's quiet thoughtfulness.
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Review
"[A] moving debut novel. . . .Maloy's wordplay and startling nature imagery enchant."
—
Publishers Weekly (
Publishers Weekly )
"This lovely tale depicts the surprises and changes that come about with aging. . . .Maloy has created a truly engrossing novel, with situations at times both joyful and horribly sad and an entirely likable protagonist surrounded by an eclectic cast of friends and family. An excellent book club selection; highly recommended."--Library Journal (
Library Journal )
"A striking portrait of a marriage that is as imperfect and amiable as its participants."--Kirkus (
Kirkus Reviews )
"
Every Last Cuckoo is an impressive step in a new literary direction."-- MSNBC.com column, “Can't Miss: This Week's Best Offerings," week of 1/20 - 1/26 (
MSNBC.COM )
"The appeal of Maloy's debut--which has the fast-forward quality of a fairy tale--is not in its subtlety but in its conviction."—People, 3-star review (
People Magazine )
"Kate Maloy's sweetly inspiring first novel, "Every Last Cuckoo," is a lovely meditation on what miracles can happen when we simply open our hearts. . . . Maloy's novel grabs the reader by the heart -- it is rare indeed to find such assured fiction about love that endures over time. . . . In this portrait of a long and loving marriage, Maloy gives us a real human family, with all its love and conflict and change, as well as a look at the richness that can come with age."--New Orleans Times-Picayune (
New Orleans Times-Picayune )
"A wonderful story of human potential and what is possible when strangers become family. . . . This heartwarming tale is an excellent read."—Roanoke Times (
Roanoke Times )
"A story about the profound gifts of time, love, and loss. . . . Maloy's message is about affirming the profundity of grief by expressing that energy in positive ways. This story is her generous vision of how things could be."--The Olympian (
The Olympia Olympian )
