Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 20, 1990 TAG: 9005200249
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by TONI WILLIAMS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Ten-year-old Clover's father, a black school principal, marries a white woman and dies in an accident several hours later. Rather than send her to relatives, the new bride, Sara Kate, holds to her promise to care for Clover.
The black community looks askance at this unlikely pairing, particularly Clover's huffy, sharp-tongued aunt Everleen, who refers to Sara Kate as "Miss Uppity-class."
Clover's feelings and observations are poignant, real and sometimes humorous as she grapples with the loss of her father, and the conflicts between her family of South Carolina peach farmers and her stepmother's foreign ways. Here she airs a typical complaint: "And that woman can't fix my kind of hair. I can't get it through her head that she can't set my hair when it's wet. My head looks like a puffed-up fighting cock."
The pearls of folk wisdom that crop up throughout the book are particularly enjoyable: Cicadas singing loudly in the early morning means the day will be a scorcher, and healthy locust trees in spite of a drought indicate good underground water.
"Clover" is a spare, tight and winning first novel.
by CNB