The Girl from Charnelle (43 page)

Authors: K. L. Cook

BOOK: The Girl from Charnelle

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P
RAISE
FOR
The Girl from Charnelle

“[
The Girl from Charnelle
] is more than a coming-of-age novel of a young girl; rather, it is the record of the traumatic explosion of a childhood into pain and bittersweet adult knowledgeâ¦. It's often said that the ultimate test of a male novelist lies in his ability to faithfully and compellingly portray the inner emotional life of a woman and that only the greats like Tolstoy, Flaubert, and James can pull it off. Cook pulls it off admirably. His portrait of Laura is compelling, deft, delicate, and as gritty and honest as a West Texas sandstormâ¦. This is a marvelously written and well-paced, deeply affecting first novel.”

â
Houston Chronicle

“If you have ever been a little girl, if you have ever loved a little girl, you will love
The Girl from Charnelle
â¦. [Laura Tate] will remind the reader of the character Kaye Gibbons made famous in
Ellen Foster
but with less angst and anger. Laura is the kind of girl who, when planning to run away from it all, packs a book of American short stories. Ultimately, love draws her home. Much like real life, this novel is free from a fantasy ending. But it has a good ending nonetheless. The reader will find themselves falling in love with Laura, pulling for her, and hoping she's doing O.K. long after the last page is read and the book is closedâ¦.
The Girl from Charnelle
is about grace, tragedy, and motherless children who assume adult roles. Themes which are all too commonâ¦.
The Girl from Charnelle
is a hit. A big hit.”

â
Mississippi Press

“Cook's debut novel drives itself into the reader's consciousness much like the sudden, violent thunderstorms that sweep across the plains of the Texas Panhandleâ¦. Cook's depiction of the optimism of the new decade of the 1960s contrasts effectively with the bleak landscape of the arid Texas high plains. A deeply thoughtful and honest rendering of the unanswered questions of relationships and the nature of love.”

â
Booklist

“Compellingâ¦. A strong, complex story from a promising new literary voice.”

â
Kirkus Reviews

“Set against the backdrop of an emotional election and the start of a tumultuous decade, this atypical coming-of-age story from Cook considers more than a young girl's erotic and emotional awakening; it's the story of an entire generation growing up too quickly. The story may start quietly, but its deceptively simple premise builds to a tense situation that makes this debut impossible to put down until the dramatic and realistic conclusion.”

â
Library Journal
(starred review)

“In
The Girl from Charnelle
, K. L. Cook has written a brilliant portrait of a small-town teenage girl whose secret affair shows such a complicated mix of will and entanglement, desire and accident, that it feels utterly true. The novel unfolds with a rare suspense, as it moves its characters through the threat of discovery and the aftereffects of family disaster. A fresh and indelible book.”

âJoan Silber

“
The Girl from Charnelle
and K. L. Cook give us characters we care aboutâeven grow to loveâset inside a story that strikes deep, the way important novels used to do. This story of running from oneself to find oneself is beautiful, tender, moving, and true.”

âBret Lott, author of
Jewel

“K. L. Cook is the best kind of storytellerâhe creates compelling characters and dives deeply through the wreckage of their lives, exploring the darkest corners and returning
with pieces of courage, love, and hope.
The Girl from Charnelle
will capture your heart and stay with you long after you turn the last page.”

âHannah Tinti, author of
Animal Crackers

“After reading
The Girl from Charnelle
, I'm so convinced by K. L. Cook's writing that I believe Laura Tate is a real person with a beating, aching heart, so full of longing and loneliness that she might burst. I loved her, I was frustrated with her, I was happy for her, and sad for her, but the best part is that I felt I knew her. She's an amazing and lovely creation, and I'm honored to have met her within the pages of this bookâ¦. This book is expertly rendered in the hands of a writer whoâif we live in a just worldâwill soon be known throughout the country.”

âSilas House, author of
Clay's Quilt, A Parchment of Leaves
, and
The Coal Tattoo

P
RAISE FOR
Last Call

“Fourteen-year-old Laura Tate watches her mother descend into depression and finally leave her family of two daughters and three sons. Like Harriet in Donna Tart's
Little Friend
and Alice in the recent National Book Awardânominee
Florida
by Christine Schutt, Laura experiences adult motives and emotions as achingly beyond her reach.”

â
Southwest Book Views

“A family's tragic trajectory viewed through the kaleidoscope of time in stories that make an immensely satisfying whole.”

â
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“They're like something out of a country-and-western song, these Tates of West Texas, what with their good women and bad dogs, bad luck and good honky-tonks. But that's where the song lyric clichÃ©d comparison ends. In Cook's hands, the series of linked stories introducing us to three generations of Tates fairly thrums with keen insight borne of uncommon wisdom and unwavering compassion for his charactersâ¦. Cook's debut collection is a breathtakingly haunting and magical tapestry of human emotions.”

â
Booklist

“K. L. Cook's
Last Call
captures the bittersweet dysfunction of the everyday like a Bob Wills tune, sweetness shining in the rhythm of Cook's carefully juxtaposed storiesâ¦. The stories themselves are much like the hard lives of people we know and meet daily, but
Last Call
has wrapped them into a brilliant puzzle that manages to permeate feelings of desperation and dull despair with a sense of hopeâthe notion that just one good decision or one kind word might be enough to make things work out.”

âTucson Weekly

“The stories in
Last Call
are about fractured families, lovers and losers (often one and the same), and coming-of-age the hard way. Cook writes with ease and naturalness and a wonderful, sorrowful knowledge of human foibles.”

âJean Thompson

“The stories in
Last Call
are so entertaining it seems almost unfair that they also resonate powerfully long after you've put down the book. K. L. Cook has whopping gifts, and this is a splendid book.”

âRobert Boswell

“
Last Call
is a terrific first book. K. L. Cook starts with the pungent inventory of country-western songs but lights it all, even his honky-tonks, fried food, downed trees, sick dogs, and rain, with a new understanding of men and women. These are rich stories by an exciting new voice.”

âRon Carlson

ALSO BY K. L. COOK

Last Call: Stories

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE GIRL FROM CHARNELLE
. Copyright Â© 2006 by K. L. Cook. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Â© Edition NOVEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061979767

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