An Everyday Savior: A Novel [Hardcover]

Kathryn Larrabee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 2002

Harley Cookson is a good, kindhearted man living in rural New York state. Determined to keep his ailing mother out of a nursing home, he brings her into the house he shares with his new wife. A chance encounter with his high school sweetheart, Lynette, threatens to upset this tenuous domestic balance. Suspecting that Lynette is a victim of abuse, Harley becomes determined to protect her. But when Lynette’s husband dies in an apparently freak accident, small-town suspicion is raised, and Harley must confront the possibility that his attempt to save her has put them both, and his marriage, in jeopardy. With this unadorned tale of a man struggling valiantly with a past that he can neither recapture nor fully escape, Kathryn Larrabee, winner of the distinguished Hopwood Award for creating writing, has created a moving debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Understated integrity and quiet dignity are the hallmarks of Kathryn Larrabee's debut novel, An everyday Savior. Harley Cookson has been married barely six months to his Russian bride, Sonia, when he must bring his ailing mother to live with them. A chance encounter with an old girlfriend, Lynette, gives him another reason to worry - it seems Lynette's husband has been beating her. Larrabee's sure hand with her material and her feel for the rituals of home life make this a richly textured and rewarding novel.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

"AN EVERYDAY SAVIOR is not an everyday novel: it has an uncommon feeling for the divided and sometimes anguished emotional allegiances of men toward the women they love and want to help, even when that help leads to unforeseen trouble. This is a serious and perceptive book about love, eros, and responsibility, and it marks Kathryn Larrabee as an author to watch." —Charles Baxter

"Kathryn Larrabee writes with such force and feeling and humor about her beautifully realized characters that you end up feeling that they must be living somewhere nearby, the next street or the next town, and if you only knew where you would go and help. AN EVERYDAY SAVIOR is a novel of considerable suspense and cumulative power. A splendid debut." —Margot Livesey

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows; 1ST edition (May 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568582250
• ISBN-13: 978-1568582252
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,627,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sure-handed writing and vivid characters, July 24, 2002

By 

Tananarive Due (Longview, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Everyday Savior: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the Instant Age, with so many throwaway books published by the truckload, it's a breath of fresh air to read a book by an author so loving in her craft, sculpting each page, each paragraph, each sentence, with so much thought and awareness.
When Harley Cookson's mother is forced to move in with him and his new wife, our protagonist also must face the ghosts of his past: particularly the ghost of a former girlfriend, whom he believes is being physically abused by her husband. Shifting deftly between the present-day and carefully-chosen flashbacks, AN EVERYDAY SAVIOR is really a book about all of us -- our memories, our regrets, our triumphs, our losses. It's the kind of book that makes us remember what we love about reading.
Kathryn Larrabee is a writer to watch. I look forward to reading many more of her books in the future!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Man Struggling to be a Hero, October 22, 2002

By 

Ronna Grimes (Penfield, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Everyday Savior: A Novel (Hardcover)

A charmingly simple story with complex layers. The male point of view is refreshing and captivating. I loved the descriptions of the rural settings and the relationship between Harley and Sonia. Sonia prompted her husband to do the right thing even when that action might be against her interests. I especially found the ending provocative; who are the saviors in our lives?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!, July 30, 2002

By 

Jeanne Lokar (Fairport, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Everyday Savior: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm not much of a fiction fan, but I may be a convert after reading An Everyday Savior, by K. Larrabee! I fell in love with the characters, and found myself, at the end of the book, having the same pit-of-the-stomach feeling we all get when we watch loved ones drive away after a lovely bonding time together.
The characters quickly became REAL to me, and their feelings/realities so deftly described by Ms Larrabee that I found myself fully understanding and empathizing with situations that are, personally, foreign to me! This is surely the mark of a talented writer.