Nora, Nora

July 31, 2000
Siddons pulls off another smoothly written novel with ingratiating ease, despite an unpromising beginning. Readers may fear they're in the realm of the hackneyed reflections of To Kill a Mockingbird and A Member of the Wedding when they're introduced to 12-year-old, "thin, frail, queer and nervous" Peyton McKenzie. In the seventh grade in Lytton, Ga., Peyton has "no friends of her own age and gender," and spends her free time in the parsonage tool shed with 34-year-old Ernie Longworth, eccentric, erudite sexton and grave keeper of the Methodist church. The third member of their Losers Club is eight-year-old Boot, the handicapped grandson of Chloe, the McKenzies' black housekeeper. Peyton considers herself the consummate "loser" because her mother died the day after she was born, and her cool, distant father seems to hold Peyton responsible. When a beautiful red-haired stranger blows into town in a Thunderbird coup , this too seems tritely familiar. Outspoken Nora Findlay, a distant cousin who smokes, drinks and doesn't wear a bra, is clearly out to shock the morally conservative community. Though Siddons doesn't deliver any thematic surprises in this well-worn genre, she does offer a neatly competent and engrossing story that captures the reader's sympathies despite its quality of d j vu, as she conjures up the social and racial attitudes of a small Southern town in the 1960s. Nora enthralls an initially reluctant Peyton, working magic on the girl's appearance, self-confidence, intellectual curiosity and moral vision, even as she scandalizes everyone else in town. But daredevil Nora is secretly vulnerable, as Peyton learns when her cousin confesses the heavy emotional burden she carries. Eventually, both Nora and Peyton experience the anguish of betrayal. In addition to her impeccable re-creation of Southern speech and atmosphere, Siddons captures the angst of adolescence with practiced skill, and she handles the rising drama of her plot so smoothly that the book has all the marks of bestsellerdom. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh at the Writers Shop. 250,000 first printing; author tour.

June 1, 2000
Peyton McKenzie is a young girl on the brink of womanhood who lives in a small town near Atlanta in the 1960s. Peyton's great joy is her membership in the Loser's Club. The other members are Boot, the grandson of the black cook who works for Peyton's father, and Ernie, an adult who tends to his invalid mother and doesn't quite fit into the adult world. The members meet and trade humiliating experiences. But Peyton's contributions ebb when her cousin Nora comes to stay, transforming her and her family. Nora brings fresh air into a household weighted by death, regret, and sorrow. For instance, Peyton has always felt responsible for her mother's death, as she died giving birth to Peyton. Nora, with her red hair, pink Thunderbird, and exotic experiences living in Miami and Cuba, dispels Peyton's guilt, uncovers the girl's writing talent, and revitalizes Peyton's taciturn father. But Nora also provokes the wrath of Peyton's meddlesome Aunt Augusta and the entire town of Lytton when she becomes involved in racial politics. In still another subplot, Nora raises the suspicions of Peyton's grandmother, Agnes, a gifted spiritualist. Siddon teases with a supernatural angle that doesn't pan out, but this is a solid novel about growing up, daring to love, and weathering life's inevitable disappointments. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2000
Siddons s (Low Country) latest is in part a loving tribute to Harper Lee s To Kill a Mockingbird. Not only do similarities run through its characters, setting, and theme, but her story features a guest appearance by the classic novel when it is debated in her high school classroom. In 1961, Nora, an outrageous, exotic, outspoken woman who smokes cigarettes and drives a pink Thunderbird, arrives in the sleepy, segregated town of Lytton, GA. While some residents are ruffled by her unsouthern behavior, the effect Nora has on her adolescent and impressionable cousin Peyton is electric, opening Peyton s senses to the world around her. Nora frees her cousin by correcting a devastating misunderstanding that has ruled Peyton s life (that she was responsible for her own mother s death). But Nora herself is dogged by a dark secret, and in the end she self-destructs, her own poor choices wrecking her future in Lytton. Siddons s prose is so fluid, graceful, and lovely, that after diving in, the reader is carried along effortlessly and with great pleasure. A completely satisfying and nourishing read, containing both style and substance. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/00.] Carol J. Bissett, New Braunfels P.L., TX

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