The Caretaker
In a small 1950s North Carolina town, gossip, secrets, and judgment affect the lives of its residents. Three characters stand out and rise above: Blackburn, Jacob, and Naomi.
Blackburn Gant is the caretaker of Blowing Rock’s cemetery. Given the responsibility at the age of sixteen, he is always respectful and reverential, and takes his responsibility for caring for the dead seriously. Jacob Hampton is Blackburn’s best friend and the only son of a prominent family in town. He falls in love with Naomi, a poor maid working at the hotel. When Jacob elopes with Naomi, his overprotective, controlling parents are outraged and move to disinherit him. As Jacob leaves to fight in Korea, he asks his parents to watch over a pregnant Naomi, but they refuse. Blackburn happily accepts that responsibility. When Jacob is injured in Korea, thoughts of returning home to his wife and baby sustain him.
It is Blackburn, disfigured from childhood polio, and Naomi, a poor and uneducated outsider, who are the victims of the town’s cruelty. Even though Jacob is their golden boy who deserves a marriage of his social class, he too falls victim. In a stunning turn, Jacob’s parents manipulate the words of a telegram from Korea to serve their own ends; and the chain of lies that results is devastating. Different types of love shape the characters – parental love, overbearing and selfish; unselfish brotherly love; and romantic love. The friendship between Blackburn and Jacob is tested when Blackburn must set aside his own desire for the sake of honor and friendship, showing the strength of his selfless character. Rash is incomparable in his expressive and evocative writing, and his ability to breathe life into these unforgettable characters. The tension of how the evil wrought by Jacob’s parents can be made right propels this emotional, sensitive, thought-provoking love story.
