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From Sean Dietrich-also known as Sean of the South-comes a poignant tale of the stars that shine all around us . . . if only we're willing to look.When she becomes pregnant at fifteen, Marigold is rejected by her family and forced to fend for herself. And when she loses her baby in the forest, her whole world turns upside down. She's even more distraught upon discovering she has an inexplicable power that makes her both beautiful and terrifying-and something of a local legend.Meanwhile, migrant workers Vern and Paul discover a violet-eyed baby and take it upon themselves to care for her. The men soon pair up with a widow and her two children, and the untraditional family finds their way in fits and starts toward taking care of each other.As survival brings one family together, a young boy finds himself with nary a friend to his name amid the dust storms still raging across Kansas. Fourteen-year-old Coot, a child preacher with a prodigy's memory, is on the run with thousands of stolen dollars-and the only thing he's sure of is that Mobile, Alabama, is his destination.As the years pass and a world war looms, their stories intertwine in surprising ways. With a voice both humorous and heartfelt, Sean Dietrich weaves together a tale about the dignity of humanity and the value of enduring hope-reminding us that when the dust clears, we can still see the stars.… (more)
User reviews
This Depression era book has three main characters and the story is told by each character. There seems to be no connection between the characters during most of the book but these stories intertwine in surprising ways and we see the real stars.
The three main characters were memorable and their journeys make this a book that you don't want to miss. Even in the darkest of times, there is still hope for the future. The story is beautiful written and the three main characters touched my heart.
So, it is no fault of the author’s that I did not enjoy this character-driven novel as much as I anticipated. I think I can only blame the fact that I was not in the mood for this type of story at the time I read it. Thus, interested readers, be sure to check out Stars of Alabama—it could be just the book with which you’ll fall in love next.
I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.
The second story involves Marigold a young woman from an abusive family who gives birth in the forest and in her ignorance and confusion “loses” her baby. She spends the rest of her life trying to find her lost baby. In her travels she ends up in a brothel and befriends the ladies. She also discovers that she has a special ability.
The third tale is of traveling workers just trying to stay alive during the depression. They will do any kind of work to gather enough funds to buy a pig so they can roast it and make their special barbecue sauce to sell as they move about. On one stop they find a baby in the woods and decide to adopt it. On yet another they pick up a widow and two children. Somehow they manage to survive the Dust Bowl and the worst of the Depression.
This is a thinking person’s book. You can’t just breeze through it as you have to keep track of the people and where they are in the various storylines. Don’t let that scare you off of reading it though – it’s definitely worth the effort. It’s a well written, complicated and very satisfying book. The author does an excellent job of keeping the stories separate while deftly weaving them together. They are all people looking for some manner of redemption and most of all love and it’s not easy for any of them to find.
The Stars of Alabama is the kind of book that will get better on a second read I suspect.
I had some issues with the book. The characters seemed very stereotypical and weak. The women in particular seemed off - they were either Madonna's or Magdalene's, which is pretty frustrating. Everything came together in the end in a pretty predictable way. Overall, not a book I would re-read or recommend.