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smaller than a baby bird . . . something that doesn’t belong in her, a mistake, all blind and gray and no feathers” (80). Slowly, she becomes more attached to her unborn child and begins writing letters to him – letters that will never be read – to help reconcile her current state, a pattern that continues even after the birth. When Addie was in high school, she used to write poetry with Roland, feeling as though “the rest of the world disappear[ed]” when she attempted to channel her inner Joni Mitchell or Edna Millay (15). As an adult, she turns to the epistolary form for solace, and the letters to Byrd remain a constant in Addie’s life, leading, we hope, to some sort of peace. In the summer of 1989, Addie writes, “You will not read this letter, which is the only reason I’m brave enough to write it. You will not know what you went through to get here. Already you are braver than I ever will be” (89). Thus, the power of anonymity and the relief in the act of writing become stabilizing forces for Addie and do as much to show the growth of her character as those moments told by the omniscient narrator. These letters are refreshingly freeform and expressive, unbound by rules of content or tone. Perhaps it is
also Addie’s belief in books that allows her to find this similar relief in writing. As a teenager, she felt that books were “more interesting than real life and easier to understand. Sometimes you can guess the ending. Things usually work out, and if they don’t, you can always tell yourself it was only a book” (7). Although Church offers this early description of Addie’s mindset, the same mantra can be applied to the novel. We think we can guess the ending, but arguably the resolution is not quite what we expect. And that’s a good thing. Although the primary focus rests on Addie, Church provides insight into the life of Byrd’s father, Roland. The parallel narratives – again delivered through short vignettes – encourage the reader to question Addie’s choices with a knowledge that even Addie herself lacks. Has Addie underestimated him? Would they have been better off together? The quick switch between the lives of Addie and Roland, miles apart and seemingly unaware of what the other is going through, propels the reader through an already well-paced novel. Byrd defies expectation, in much the same way that life does. This is not the story of a high school fling, even if it finds its
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origins in a childhood attraction. Knowing that, we might expect to read the travails of a teenage mother who, after experiencing her first sexual encounter with the aloof and misunderstood guitar player, grapples with the decision between abortion, adoption, and raising the child on her own. Likewise, we might expect a reunion between Addie and Roland after years apart, realizing that they were destined for each other. But neither is the case. Instead, Church alters these expectations through clever plot twists that leave the reader, like Addie, full of “hopes but no expectations” (239). Refreshingly, Church offers an alternative to the pattern of motherhood; although it is not without its regrets, Addie proves that only when she sheds the expectations that have driven her is she able to find relief. Our expectations, by novel’s end, are for Addie’s happiness, and perhaps for that long-anticipated reunion that she desires. In her final missive to Byrd, fashioned as his coming-of-age letter, Addie admits that this one will make it to the mailbox. It serves as his invitation to find her if he wants to. Does Byrd appear on Addie’s doorstep after all these years? We have “hopes but no expectations.” n
LEE SMITH RECEIVES THIRD SIR WALTER RALEIGH AWARD Lee Smith received her third Sir Walter Raleigh Award in 2014 for Guests on Earth (Algonquin, 2013; reviewed in NCLR Online 2014), joining two other three-time winners of the award, Doris Betts and Frances Gray Patton (John Ehle and Reynolds Price have both won five times). Smith’s other two Raleigh Award novels are Oral History (Putnam’s, 1983; the subject of essays in NCLR 1998 and 2008) and Fair and Tender Ladies (Putnam’s, 1988). She won the Southern Book Critics Circle award in 2002 for her novel The Last Girls (Algonquin, 2002), which is the subject of an essay in NCLR 2014.
She is the author of twelve novels, including On Agate Hill (Algonquin, 2006; reviewed in NCLR 2007) and four collections of short stories, including News of the Spirit (Putnam’s, 1997; reviewed in NCLR 1998). Smith has been awarded the Lifetime Literary Achievement Award from her native state of Virginia, and in her adopted state of North Carolina, where she taught at NC State University for almost twenty years, she received the North Carolina Award for Literature in 1984 and was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2009. Read a short story by Smith, “Blazing Star,” in NCLR 1998. n