Good Hope Road
Good Hope Road centres on Jim, a young man in a New England apple orchard during the Great Depression, who falls in love with glamorous city girl, Madeline, while struggling to understand his father, “the Major,” a reclusive alcoholic veteran. Interspersed is the story of an unlikely friendship between James Stonebridge, an educated and cultured New Englander, and Obediah Nelson, a charming and wandering black Southerner, who come together as two Americans in the French Foreign Legion during the Great War.
The dialect-heavy first person story of Obediah (supplemented by extracts from James’ journal) brings the horrors of war to life and makes a refreshing break from the less personal, omniscient later narrative. The historical details are rich and the language beautifully crafted, and the two narratives complement each other, threading together neatly but rather hurriedly in the end. The rushed pace covering several years at the end of Jim’s story waters down the emotional impact of the revelations that punctuated James and Obediah’s friendship. And while the inclusion of the Bonus Army plotline is interesting and ultimately serves as the medium through which the Major and Jim could understand each other (if not communicate), the focus on the character of Connor feels lopsided without an echo of him in the earlier narrative.
An enjoyable, wide-reaching story including some lesser-known aspects of the War and its aftermath. Sarita Mandanna is an ambitious and accomplished author.
