The Cottage Industry
David Enders returns home to Connecticut three years after serving as a pilot for France in World War I. What awaits him is an unsympathetic father, a mother who is consumed with the care of his comatose sister, a brother interested mostly in making money, and a job he doesn’t want at his father’s bank. His nights consist of drinking at speakeasies and eventually falling into unpleasant dreams of the horrors of war. When a construction job comes up in the coastal town of Old Lyme, he takes it immediately. There he discovers a colony of artists, and among them the beautiful Karen, with whom he begins a relationship.
This is a well-written story that shows what it could be like for any military member to come home after fighting in a war, although this is from a pilot’s perspective. Enders’ problems dealing with the agony of battle are revealed to the reader immediately, and it is easy to see that he is still struggling with the horrors he has experienced. The way the author has Enders slowly opening up to life again is expertly done. When he does embrace a part of his past that he has set aside, the reader can see a crack in the wall he has built around himself. There are some flashbacks to the war, and events in France afterward, and there are other problems in the present. Enders’ employer is nice to him but proves to be a racist who wants to sell land only to certain people. There are also other reminders that evil exists even after the battle is over. This is a look at a post-war journey that will touch the heart. Highly recommended.
