Stranger Here Below
This is a novel about friendship, motherhood and community. Amazing Grace Jansen, or Maze, was raised in Appalachia by a single mother who struggled with poverty, just as her mother did before her. Mary Elizabeth Cox, daughter of a southern black preacher, has been raised by a mother with severe emotional scars stemming from traumatic events experienced in childhood. When they meet at Berea College in 1961, it seems, at first glance, that the roommates have little in common upon which to build a friendship. But a shared love of the outdoors, a similar work ethic, and Maze’s sheer persistence pays off.
The secondary plot involves Sister Georgia, one of the last Shakers left at the tiny community near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Before joining the Shakers, Georginea Ward had been a teacher at Berea, but a doomed romance led her down a different path. She takes Maze under her wing at a time when she most needs a guiding hand, and that guidance leads to a surprising outcome.
I enjoyed the how the author used landscape as metaphor, and how she gave voice to her characters, particularly Maze. While I usually enjoy non-linear storytelling, especially in multigenerational stories when it is often an effective method for joining and comparing separate storylines, in this instance, the jumping back and forth threw me off.
