The Stones of Mourning Creek [Hardcover]

Diane Les Becquets (Author), Diane Les Becquets (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2001

At first, 14-year-old Francie Grove trusts the sheriff's report: her mother's death was accidental. Her father, more lost in drink than ever, is keeping his suspicions to himself. Francie gets through her grief alone by taking walks down at the local creek. A nearly fatal encounter with a cottonmouth snake takes Francie into the healing home of Ruthie Taylor, a black girl she has never met because the town of Spring Gap is almost totally segregated by race. Ruthie quickly becomes Francie's best friend and the Taylor family becomes her refuge. At the same time that Francie and Ruthie's friendship develops, a mystery begins to unfold around the death of Francie's mother. Clues suggest that she may have been murdered, and Ruthie unknowingly holds key information. In this lyrically written, dramatically charged novel, a determined heroine crosses racial divides to expose her town's deadliest secrets.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel, set in 1966 Spring Gap, Ala., pegs Les Becquets as a writer to watch. She orients readers in the deep South, where whites gamble on the outcome of bare-hand boxing between young black boys; the sheriff's buddy runs the town's gambling and drinking establishment; and the blossoming friendship between white narrator Francie and Ruthie, a black girl, labels Francie an outcast. Francie's mother relates the brief opening chapter, which hints at foul play: while the woman searches for Francie's alcoholic father one night, she hears the voice of a distressed child, shouts that the child should run, then loses consciousness (and her life). The rest of the novel is told from 14-year-0ld Francie's perspective, an intelligent, fair-minded viewpoint that will keep readers hooked. Francie first meets Ruthie after the heroine is bitten by a poisonous snake on the banks of Mourning Creek, and Ruthie alerts her mother, who provides a healing remedy. Gradually, Francie learns just how great an impact her mother had on the small community. If the various ties all leading back to the woman seem too carefully orchestrated, and some of the events and subplots melodramatic (an old flame of Francie's mother watches out for Francie; one villain is the source of all the town's evils), the lyricism of the narrative and the well-developed relationship between Francie and Ruthie carries the novel. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-In the dramatic prologue to this novel set in 1960s rural Alabama, 14-year-old Francie Grove's mother is murdered while attempting to save a black girl from rape. Around this pivotal event, the story unfolds of a town in the grip of an evil and powerful man, Harvey Mansfield, and the complicity of the local law-enforcement establishment that allows racism and violence to go unpunished. In her loneliness following her mother's death and subject to her father's alcoholic neglect, Francie grows increasingly attached to the black Taylor family, particularly Ruthie, who becomes her best friend after saving her from a deadly snakebite. This friendship and her father's hatred of Mansfield, whom he suspects is his wife's killer, alienate the Groves from their white neighbors and make them the prey of brutal attacks. When Francie discovers that Mansfield is running a gambling den where fights are staged between young black men to satisfy the blood lust of hard-drinking white male observers, a chain of events is set off that leads to a shattering climax in which Ruthie is killed. Despite much foreshadowing with incidents of cruelty and violence, readers will not be prepared for this outcome. Francie's loss and grief are devastating, and signs of hope are not convincing. Many subplots, including the growing love between Francie and a boy who lives in relative isolation with his outcast mother, the realization that Ruthie is the girl Francie's mother saved, and Francie's father's abrupt decision to marry the high school librarian, result in melodrama and some jarring implausibilities and coincidences. Mildred Bargler Herschler's The Darkest Corner (Front Street, 2001) offers a more effective and compelling portrayal of this theme.

Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Winslow Pr; 1st edition (September 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588370046
• ISBN-13: 978-1588370044
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, April 16, 2002

By 

Amethyst Faerie (Quincy, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stones of Mourning Creek (Hardcover)

I think this is a wonderful book for all ages. Diane Les Becquets is a great author. The Stones of Mourning Creek is about a white girl named Francie who becomes best friends with a black girl named Ruthie during the 1960's in the South. After Francie's mother dies...Francie became unhappy and really lonely since her father seemed to never be there for her. Francie's mother didn't really die in an accident, she stopped a man from raping a girl and so the man killed her. You quickly find out in a couple of pages who the evil man is and who he was going to rape. Francie became friends with Ruthie, after Ruthie saves her by getting help when she found her knocked out from a snakebite. Francie and Ruthie cherished their friendship and let nothing come between them. Francie falls for a boy named Earnest :O) Their town is full of secrets....people they know are not all they seem to be. Francie and Ruthie end up finding out the answers to the mystery of Francie's mother's so-called accident. The ending was........hmm......dunno what to really say about it but you just have to read this wonderful story for yourself to find out the ending...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The value of friendship, September 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Stones of Mourning Creek (Hardcover)

As a librarian at a middle school I regularly read young adult fiction. This story is truly inspiring. The two main characters are struggling with a desire to be "best friends" during the 1960's when black people were excluded from many daily activities even though the laws said that they were to have the same rights as everyone else. The girls discover, that together, they hold key information to solve a murder mystery that has deeply affected both of them personally. This story gives you the feeling that true friendship is something you don't want to ever let go of. Strong language but important to the story. A great book for discussions and literature circles.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books I've ever Read, December 19, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Stones of Mourning Creek (Hardcover)

Hi there! I am an anvide reader! And I must say this is one of my favorite books. I read a lot of books, so u have 2 understand how good this book really has to be good. It shows true friendship, first love, and an acceptance of other races and life stlyes. This author definatly has something special going on! I hope she writes more books. Just a note: I have to promote this book, Seer and The Sword! It is wonderful!