Bent RoadLori Roy
Dutton Adult, March 2011
ISBN: 978-0525951834
"A remarkably assured debut novel. Rich and evocative, Lori Roy's voice is a welcome addition to American fiction." -Dennis Lehane
Bent Road is a gripping debut novel from an author to watch. Lori Roy tells a story in southern-gothic tradition of a family haunted by the past.
Arthur Scott left his Kansas home as a young man after the death of his sister Eve, an event about which he never speaks. Driven out by the racial tensions of late 1960s Detroit, the Scotts are returning to the Kansas Arthur escaped. The secret of what really happened to Eve hangs around the family. When a young girl goes missing, the family is thrown into turmoil as memories and suspicions surround them. Bent Road is a story of how secrets can both unite and divide a family and the evolution that can occur when a family recognizes that fact.
Little has changed since Arthur left his home on Bent Road following the mysterious and unsolved death of his sister, Eve. Her passing occurred shortly before she was married to Ray, and the locals have cast a suspicious eye on him, even after he married Ruth, Eve and Arthur's sister, in Eve's place. Ray nonetheless has been sinking into an alcoholic moroseness in the intervening period, interrupted only by explosive incidents where his temper has manifested itself with increasingly violent beatings visited upon Ruth.
Almost immediately after their arrival at Arthur’s childhood home a black prisoner escapes an institution and a young white girl goes missing. Inexplicably for the time period, most of the townsfolk don’t connect the two events, and instead point the finger at Arthur’s sister’s husband Ray. They all believe Ray had something to do with the death of Arthur’s other sister Eve years ago, and that now, twenty years later, he’s finally struck again.
Roy portrays a very real picture of farm life, country folk, and the secrets a family will go to all lengths to hide, even from each other. I liked the writing style in which the author's use several narrators allowing each one to tell the story from their point of view. Set in the mid 60’s on the wide open plains of Kansas, the author depicts a haunting family drama with shades of Midwestern noir. The characters are believable and their struggles heartfelt. Bent Road is a haunting, memorable and well written book that keeps you interested throughout. Lori Roy announces yet another new voice in literature who I will look for again in the future!
LORI ROY was born and raised in the Midwest, where she worked for years as a tax accountant before turning her focus to daily writing. Her work has appeared in the Chattahoochee Review, and she is the recipient of the Ed Hirschberg Award for Excellence in Florida Writing. Roy lives with her family in west central Florida.
