Iona Moon: A Novel. Paperback - 1994

New York, NY Penguin Group: Plume Books, October 1, 1994. Paperback First Ed thus; First Printing indicated. First Ed thus; First Printing indicated. Very Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of wear to extremities, with a couple of faint crease lines near the lower corner tips; the pages have tanned a bit, due to aging. Binding square and secure; text clean. Very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 315pp. Trade Paperback. This book is concerned primarily with Iona Moon, a skinny dirt-poor farmer's daughter, and the teens she hangs out with (including boys who would be glad to be with her, if she meets them at the movies, buys her own ticket and leaves alone), this book at times approaches the lyrical in its description of human heartbreak. For a young woman searching for love, there are few good options - mothers in this book are dead - either emotionally or literally, and yet, they are also the healers and the "hopers" who provide the voice and the strength to go on - whether the voice of Iona's own dead mother or Pearl, the mother of her Indian lover who heals her with the taste of bitterness. This book combines the smallness of small towns with their narrow class structures and small minds along with the expanse of nature - rivers that run and skies that extend forever, working as a metaphor for the human heart that can dream large and wide, but must return to the narrow confines of the practical in life - where the cows need milking, the choices are few and the easist way out of town is not the road, but death. "Sorrow came in soft waves. She saw that the smallest sacrifices were the ones that drowned you in the end." Still, the book is as full of hope and heart as it is of heartbreak. Melanie Rae Thon's use of language is unrivaled...Iona Moon has long been the book I marvel at over and over again. I am saddened that it is out of print and strongly encourage her next publisher to re-release this beautiful, poignant novel. Her genius deserves greater recognition, and a wide readership.