The Caretaker: Signed

The Caretaker is the eighth novel by award-winning, best-selling American poet and author, Ron Rash. The loss of two infant daughters made Cora Hampton overprotective of her only son, Jacob, when he finally came. Cora and Daniel Hampton were people of wealth and influence in Laurel Fork, Watauga County, North Carolina. Daniel inherited the timber mill and together they bought the General Store, but folk said they were hard-working and decent, often helping those worse off.

But Jacob was heartily sick of the way they controlled his life: when he fell for sixteen-year-old Naomi Clarke outside the Yonahlossee cinema in Blowing Rock, and his parents disapproved, they eloped. Daniel's threat to disinherit his son if they didn't annul their marriage had no effect. Soon enough, they were proving they could make their own way.

When Jacob was conscripted to fight in Korea, he hoped that the prospect of a grandchild, the baby Naomi was expecting in May, would soften his father's stance, but was disappointed. Risking his life in Korea was all Naomi's fault: had he stayed in college, he would have been exempt, Daniel declared. So Jacob turned to his best friend, Blackburn.

Blackburn Gant had been the caretaker at the town's cemetery since he was sixteen, a job that suited a man with a facial disfigurement that made people uncomfortable. He took good care of Naomi: chores, maintenance of the farmhouse, and company. Then, a certain nasty incident in town, the day before she went home to her Daddy's farm near Pulaski, Tennessee. But he continued to visit, driving seven hours each way to bring gifts and chat.

The plan that Cora had for her son didn't include his marrying a poor, uneducated hotel maid, so when the news came by telegram to Laurel Fork that Jacob had been seriously injured and would come home in early June, Cora saw it as an opportunity to bring her beloved son back to the fold. She hatched an audacious plan that relied on Hampton money and influence, threats, blackmail, and quite a number of lies. "There were so many lies to keep straight and more would come. Like a long line of boxcars on a steep grade, just one unhitched could cause disaster."

Much more can't be said without spoilers, but Cora's scheme will have readers' jaws dropping; it would never work in today's ultra-connected world but, set in 1951, it requires no suspension of disbelief. Even though some breathtakingly nasty stuff happens, Rash doesn't populate his novel with evil villains, just ordinary, flawed humans living their lives.

His characters observe: "Learning people were so much more than you thought, wasn't that also part of no longer being a child?" and "But to love a person enough that you'd want them to love someone else instead of you . . . that's hard."

"Maybe it ain't about having to make a choice which person you love," Blackburn said. "Maybe a heart's big enough to hold both."

Rash challenges his characters realistically, but also gives some of them the insight and wisdom and steadfastness to meet what they must. Blackburn, he especially tests with a strong temptation: does he yield, or does he remain a true friend?

As his fans have come to expect, Rash gives the reader some gorgeous descriptive prose: "This time of day everything grew still, as if the world was holding its breath until the night fell" and "the fog began to unscarf itself" are examples. This is beautifully-written, brilliantly-plotted historical fiction: highly recommended.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Canongate books.