Amy Franklin-Willis

Ezekiel is a man whose life has gone horribly wrong. His brother is ten years dead in a tragic accident, his wife has divorced him and remarried, but, above all, he is a man who has disappointed himself and who cannot forgive himself or seek forgiveness from others. The book, in a series of flashbacks and changing POV, gives us the history of Ezekiel and his family. His brother, Carter, brain damaged first by childhood measles and later by the vicious attack of thugs, figures so largely in this narrative that it is immediately clear that his life and death, and above all, his relationship with his brother, provide the critical crisis for the story's resolution. Franklin-Willis is pitch perfect in her writing, providing details that resonate with the Southeastern reader. As an aside, this book would be a really excellent choice for a book discussion group, providing extensive material for a lively discussion.… (lisätietoja)

This review also appears on my blog, http://mswordopolis.blogspot.com/2012/02/lost-saints-of-tennessee.html.

The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis surprised me in lots of good ways. The book starts in a very tough place emotionally: forty-two-year-old Ezekiel Cooper is divorced, depressed, has a bad relationship with his aging mother, and is not coping well with the upcoming tenth anniversary of his twin brother Carter’s drowning death. So much about the premise could have made me run for the book: (1) I’m not a big fan of men-having-a-midlife crisis books; (2) I’m not a fan of deeply depressed characters. Despite my misgivings, I became very emotionally invested in these characters after a short time.
The novel takes place in the small town of Clayton, Tennessee, a town which Zeke’s mom is desperate to leave, and which she is desperate for her children to leave as well. Zeke is the first of his five siblings to leave town: he moves to Virginia to live with cousins and attend the University of Virginia, but he returns to Clayton over the holidays and stays for the next twenty-five years. The story moves physically between Virginia and Tennessee and temporally between 1960 and 1985, eventually revealing more and more of Zeke, his first wife Jackie, and their family members’ lives.


What makes the story work is Zeke and his mother’s messy interior lives. The rest of the characters are not as well developed, but there are hints to the depths in the lives of Jackie, her children, and Zeke’s cousins Georgia and Osbourne, the elderly couple in Virginia who took him in during college. This is the story of one man getting his life together as he deals with his twin brother’s death as well as his relationships with his mother and ex-wife.


I’d recommend this book to fans of stories of small towns in the south, to fans of stories about adults growing up and moving on past their past hurts, and to fans of stories about families.




THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE by Amy Franklin-Willis
Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication date: February 1, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley… (lisätietoja)

It appears I have found a new author and her name is Amy Franklin-Willis. I sat down yesterday to beat the Oklahoma heat and could not put this book down. I could not sleep until I finished it. So I am sleepily writing you to tell you about it. Amy Franklin- Willis may be new to the writing scene but her debut novel is called The Lost Saints of Tennessee and it is fabulous. I love a good southern novel and this is what this novel is. This novel is told to you by two main characters Ezekiel Cooper or Zeke for short and Lillian Cooper, Zeke’s mother. It takes you through their life and shows you how complicated life and its relationships can be. It takes you through the very hard times to show you just what is important in life and love. I was moved to tears during this book but was cheering all the way for the characters of this small Tennessee town and Cooper family. I was especially cheering Zeke along the way wishing hoping and wanting him to find some peace in his grief over his twin brother Carter. This book had scandal, romance, sadness and happiness. I want to tell you more about it but I really don’t want to give this story away and spoil it for you. This is a very moving book and I give it my 5 star rating which is the best I have, I want to give it more really I do. If it can keep me enough to stay up all night then it means good book. My only warning about this book is it will leave you wanting a piece of humming bird cake. I got this book at the library and am happy I got it so soon after its release because I am thinking this is going a book on hold for months to come. If you get a change read this one. If you want to read more on this author here is her web site http://www.amyfranklin-willis.com/… (lisätietoja)