I was a big fan of S. M. Hulse's debut novel Black River and have been eagerly awaiting Eden Mine. Hulse has a magic pen that creates a vivid sense of place and complex, conflicted characters embroiled in devastating moral choices.
However damaged it might be, however poisoned, however marred, it's not just our home; it's what remains of our family. ~from Eden Mine by S. M. HulseTall Montana mountains on the east side casts their shadows on the valley until near noon. The silver mines left their legacy of polluted water and broken families. Jo and Samuel Faber's grandfather worked the mines for thirty years to afford a plot of land at retirement. Their father died in a mine collapse.
Eden on one side, Gethsemane on the other, the mountains define Jo's world, a paradise she loves, haunted by ghastly memories of her mother's brutal murder. Her brother Samuel had hoped to leave this dying town. Instead, he became Jo's protector, her guardian. For when the disgruntled lover murdered their mother, a bullet also struck Jo.
The orphaned siblings lost too much, including their faith, but they had each other. Samuel, Jo knew, would always protect her. Jo enjoyed "casting the world in its best light" in her paintings that she sold at the gas station gift shop, and she also saw her brother in his best light, ignoring his darker attractions and anger.
The first sentence in the novel sets the conflict: "My brother's bomb explodes at 10:16 on a late April Sunday morning." Unable to fight the takeover of their family land through eminent domain, Samuel acts out. He never planned for anyone to be hurt--that's why he bombed the courthouse on a Sunday morning.
Samuel did not know that a church met in a storefront across the street. People were hurt, including the pastor's daughter.
Sheriff Hawkins comes to Jo. He has protected the siblings since their mother's death. He knows Jo could help the law find her brother. He knows the truth of that awful day when their mother's murderer was beaten to death.
Alone to face the looming deadline to vacate their family home, besieged by law and paparazzi, Jo finds aid from an unexpected person: Pastor Asa whose daughter lays in the hospital, a victim of Samuel's bomb. He is adrift spiritually, his faith unable to explain or cure what has happened.
Samuel agonizes over how he came to come to this point. His biggest choice is yet to come. Can he change?
Jo loves her brother. How long can she remain silent about what she knows?
Pastor Asa rails at his impotence to heal what is broken, the wife who died young, his comatose daughter. He is in the desert, hoping to find the still waters of faith again.
Hulse has again offered a novel that satisfies on so many levels: the propulsive plot, characters who are sympathetic and conflicted and real, a landscape painted in detailed richness, and the universal and timeless theme of being lost and seeking forgiveness and faith.
I was given a free book by the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Eden Mine
by S. M. Hulse
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pub Date 11 Feb 2020
Hardcover $27.00 (USD)
ISBN: 9780374146474
