She is on familiar ground – and not. She has lived near this forest long enough to know how to move in and through it. She sees what she has been looking for. It is her husband – and not.
Chera Hammons’ novel, Monarchs of the Northeast Kingdom, is a harsh – and wonderfully written – revelation of what it means, at the deepest levels, to be a feminist. Anna is a devoted wife. Her husband, a master saddle-maker, takes care of the man chores and repairs on their spread in rural Vermont. She is the loving complement to his work – to his presence. Then, she finds that which is not her husband. She makes a decision with which she has to do the hard hard work of living. If you want to know more, please buy and read this revelatory novel. Torrey House Press.
And, be prepared to read about a woman’s self-empowerment that is far wiser and deeper than any of America’s contemporary nit-picking isms.
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Here is my last invitation in 2020 to share writing on Breakthrough. Prompt: I shook my head. “I’m not sure what is meant by bravery.”
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