In 1972, they fell in love at first sight. He was a college football star
-- good-looking, smart, fun -- a sweet Southern boy. She was sweet sixteen
-- pretty, artless, chaste. A year later, Troy Stevenson
and Patty Ayers were married.
But in 1983, in moss-hung Verona, Georgia, as they plan to celebrate their
tenth anniversary, the tender and tenacious love between this hardworking
man and his adoring wife is tested by sudden adversity. Now a corporate
executive, Troy must confront an old family secret that underlies his nascent
alcohol abuse or he may lose his wife and the son and daughter he deeply
loves. When his latent destructiveness is unleashed and impacts his family,
he moves to their lakeside cottage to come to grips with his personal weaknesses.
But busybodies at his company assume he left home because his marriage
is in trouble. Encouraged by the assumption, co-worker Brooke Emerson,
an amoral, 1980s material girl romantically obsessed with Troy, attempts
to seduce him, setting in motion a chain of events with harrowing consequences
for him and his family. |
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Controversial
debut novel by a new voice in Southern and romantic fictionl
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Connie Chastain's novel takes on some of the most sacred assumptions of
pop culture liberalism. She especially enjoys pricking the hot-air
balloons of radical feminism.
In an era when relationships between men and women are increasingly expressed
in mindless hookups and marred by conflict, she shows what love and loyalty
between a man and a woman are all about. |
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| The
Cast....
 Troy
Stevenson -- Former college football legend and a coal miner's
grandson. He must confront the generational family secret underlying
his nascent alcohol abuse or he may lose the wife and children he deeply
loves.
 Patty
Stevenson --
A sweet, reserved Southern Baptist
wife who secretly fears she doesn't have what it takes to keep her man.
But her unshakable love for her husband is central in his struggle
to overcome his personal weaknesses.
 Randy
Stevenson -- Age 7, the apple of his father's eye, a daddy's boy
who loves his father without reservation. His forgiving spirit is instrumental
in Troy's learning to forgive himself.
 Brooke
Emerson --
An amoral 1980s material girl newly
hired at Shearwater- Ingram. Her romantic obsession with Troy leads
her to stalk him and his family.
 Jessica
Grant --
A jilted lover turned hyper- feminist
consultant motivated more by hatred of men than concern for women.
She is determined to use complaints and lawsuits to end sexual harassment
at Shearwater-Ingram.
 MaxIngram
--
Troy's closest friend since they
were sophomores college. He has come to see Troy as a rival for the affection
and approval of his father, Hamilton Ingram, CEO of Commander Industries,
parent company of Shearwater-Ingram.
 Dinah
Langley -- Troy's long-time secretary and now administrative assistant,
excessively loyal and so protective of Troy she's known around the the
office as his Doberman Pinscher.
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Love. Loyalty. Betrayal. Adversity.
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Small, moss-hung Verona, Georgia on the state's coastal plain,
where traditional values are still respected and life carries
a touch of serenity.
The administrative offices of Shearwater-Ingram Company,
manufacturer and distributor of industrial control panels
and other electrical electronic control devices.
The Stevensons' happy home, the model home of Oak Terrace twenty
years ago, and still a very satisfactory place to live. |
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"We'll come through this spell of trouble. As hard as it's been on us, it's
nothing compared to the troubles some families face. Think of what's
on the news and in the paper ... I can't imagine the horrors some folks
live with, day after day. But, Patty, it could get bad for us, really
bad, if I don't do something. Now."
--Troy Stevenson
to his wife
"Troy has never hit Randy or Melissa in their lives, ever—no whippings, no spankings,
no paddlings—because he's appalled by the idea of inflicting pain on them
... When he recovers and remembers what he did to Randy, it's going to
kill him...."
--Patty Stevenson
to Randy's doctor
"Daddy, I forgave you! Let's just forget it now! Ain't that what they
say you're supposed to do, forgive and forget?"
--Randy Stevenson
to his father
"You must be awfully lonely, living by yourself out there at the lake.
I'll take care of your loneliness, right here, right now, on the couch,
on the carpet, wherever you say. I'll do anything--whatever you want."
--Brooke Emerson
to Troy
"That man, Stevenson, is exactly why departments like Arlene's are necessary.
Insufferable chauvinist. If he's not a serial sexual harasser, it's only
because he hasn't had the opportunity."
--Jessica Grant
to Troy's co-workers
"You're a sentimental slob on top of being a hillbilly, Troyster. You always
have been but it gets worse every year."
--Max Ingram
to Troy
"I know you've got the hots for Troy but you may as well forget it.
You don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting in his britches."
--Dinah Langley
to Brooke
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