Scorpio's Child »

Fourteen-year-old Afton is alienated from her mother, who is the perfect wife when her sailor husband is home, but emotionally distant when he is away. When her mother’s brother, Bailey, turns up — an uncle Afton never knew existed — Afton begins to wonder who her mother really is. With quiet determination, Afton sets out to uncover Bailey’s secret, and along the way she learns the price that a family pays for letting the past fester unresolved. In a style richly evocative of small-town southern life in the 1940s, Scorpio’s Child shows Kezi Matthews at her best. The characters that populate this poignant coming-of-age novel are as unusual and complicated as the situations that bind them. Matthews’s straightforward handling of difficult themes creates a depth of feeling that will leave a lasting impression.

Publishers Weekly

Set during the summer of 1947, Matthews's (John Riley's Daughter) stirring novel at once captures the period nuances of life in post-WWII South Carolina and limns a timeless portrait of family sorrows and secrets. Fourteen-year-old narrator Afton's brother, Francis, perished two years ago at age 18 on a battlefield in Europe. When her mother's silent, mysterious brother, whom Afton never knew existed, comes to visit, Afton suspects that her mother is harboring secrets from the past. Mama will say only that Bailey has been through "an ordeal" and needs time "to get on his feet," and asks Afton not to mention Bailey's arrival in her letters to her father, at sea with the merchant marines. Matthews deftly and subtly draws a parallel between Francis and Bailey: Afton notices that her mother's face lights up when she talks to Bailey, the same as it did when she spoke to Francis, and her mother even offers Bailey her brother's room. The heroine dreams at night about her brother "cold and hungry in his grave," and wonders if it is wartime experiences that haunt the man as he paces incessantly in Francis's room. The girl blames herself when Bailey is falsely suspected of murder, after which Mama discloses the cause of his unhappiness. In a poignant, pivotal moment, Afton's unfailingly candid, credible voice articulates both her guilt and the sense of loss that she and her mother share ("And then it hits me so hard I feel as though my heart might burst. Mama loves Bailey the way I love Francis. She probably thought he was dead. Then she looked up one day, and there he was again"). A hopeful ending caps this gracefully crafted fiction, starring a memorable heroine and a strong supporting cast. Ages11-14. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.