Janet Peery. A writer I discovered while on a sojourn to the U.S. I think I found one of her books in a second hand store. I quickly became the owner of three books to her name: Alligator Dance (short stories) What the Thunder Said (novella and short stories) and The River Beyond the World (novel).
Janet Peery has been called a writer's writer. I can see why. Her stories and novels are exhibits of true craftsmanship and delicate journeys into the lives of everyday people. When my wife read her work she said she read it slowly. Not because it is ponderous but because it is splendid. Janet teaches at Old Dominion University.
Janet Peery has been called a writer's writer. I can see why. Her stories and novels are exhibits of true craftsmanship and delicate journeys into the lives of everyday people. When my wife read her work she said she read it slowly. Not because it is ponderous but because it is splendid. Janet teaches at Old Dominion University.
A sample from The River Beyond the World.
Seven times she went to see him. . . . He fed her no more of the buttons that made the colors come, but each time when she smelled the sweet copal a hard knot loosened in her to think how easy it was, how good, the opening of legs and the secret act of men and women solved. Though at first her body had been sore, she now knew that the cries she had once wondered about were not for pain alone, and she knew what it had been that she had longed for at the river.
If you find a Janet Peery book and hold it in your hands you will learn to fear the end of her story.
Seven times she went to see him. . . . He fed her no more of the buttons that made the colors come, but each time when she smelled the sweet copal a hard knot loosened in her to think how easy it was, how good, the opening of legs and the secret act of men and women solved. Though at first her body had been sore, she now knew that the cries she had once wondered about were not for pain alone, and she knew what it had been that she had longed for at the river.
If you find a Janet Peery book and hold it in your hands you will learn to fear the end of her story.
RSS Feed
