Stranger Kingdom: A Novel

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Set in northern Vermont in 1952, Mosher's ( Disappearances ) tale of racism and murder is powerful, viscerally affecting and totally contemporary in its exposure of deep-seated prejudice and intolerance. In this big, old-fashioned novel, the calm of Kingdom County is shattered when a high-spirited French-Canadian runaway is shot to death, and the black Presbyterian minister in whose home she took refuge is charged with killing her to conceal the alleged fact that he made her pregnant. Narrator Jim Kinneson, a high schooler whose tough dad runs the local newspaper, is almost painfully naive about racism, and the very leisurely pace, combined with the gossipy, small-town flavor, dampens the reader's interest for the first half of the book. But Walt Andrews, the wry, articulate minister, an ex-Olympic athlete and widower, is one of the most believable characters in recent memory, and the courtroom trial, which runs for nearly 100 pages, is highly dramatic. To get Andrews off the hook, Jim's inexperienced lawyer-brother must find the real murderer. A related puzzle, which involves a skeleton in the Kinneson family closet, pulls the loose ends together a bit too neatly. Film rights to United Artists; major ad/promo. (Oct.)

Library Journal

It's 1952, and Kingdom County, Vermont is an old-fashioned rural community. Thirteen year-old Jim Kinnison is about to learn some painful lessons about small-town life. When the new Presbyterian minister turns out to be a black man, both he and his son encounter some prejudice. Then a young woman who has taken refuge in the parsonage is murdered, and the minister is framed. The details of country life and colorful peripheral characters such as the Dog Cart Man and Cousins Resolved and Welcome enliven a story in the tradition of, but not as powerful as, To Kill a Mockingbird . The man at the center of the novel, Reverend Walt Andrews, seems a stick figure rather than a fully realized character. Mosher does a better job with Nat, the reverend's son. Although it is a little stilted and slow in places, this novel should find a readership.-- Janet Boyarin Blundell, Brookdale Community Coll., Lincroft, N.J.