Fri Feb 10 2012

Review of The Orange Blossom Special, Betsy Carter
by Harvey Wasserman
July 2, 2005

The Orange Blossom Special, Betsy Carter
Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
293 pages; $23.95

Betsy Carter's graceful, sweet novel THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL is a tender treat, full of warmth and wisdom, and a pleasure to read.

A long-time editor and inventor of magazines, Betsy has a sixth sense about people and places that make her a rarity among novelists---someone who can write simple, uncomplicated prose without pretense or self-importance while rendering important ideas onto the page and into our hearts.

THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL is about a widowed mother, her strong-minded teenage daughter and their struggles to love and grow in the transition from the late 1950s to the tumultuous 1960s.

When she takes the gutsy plunge of moving from safe, secure Carbondale, Illinois to a new life in Gainesville, Florida where she knows no one, Tessie Lockhart takes us with her on a journey of maturation and discovery that bridges both the process of aging and a critical transition in this country. When the story begins, the struggle for civil rights has barely shown its face, and the Vietnam War is a trace item on the 15th page. By the time we end, both are in the process of transforming America---and the lives of people like Tessie Lockhart.

By way of disclosure, Betsy Carter has been a personal friend of mine since we both attended the University of Michigan in the 1960s. Among her rare talents are her abilities, on full display in this book, to weave larger, polarizing issues into the fragile fabric of people's daily lives and to show the impact they can have on how we think and breathe.

In THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL Betsy creates a beautiful array of fully drawn human beings we can understand and embrace. These are not the rich and famous. Thankfully, and charateristically, there's not a hint of celebrity or star gazing in this book.

These are ordinary Americans, living their lives. We care about them, we care about what they do and who they become in this book, and we care about the lovely woman who had the talent and power to put them, and their story, on display for us to share. Lets hope for still more from this extraordinary writer!

--
HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE US is available through www.harveywasserman.com, along with his A GLIMPSE OF THE BIG LIGHT: LOSING PARENTS, FINDING SPIRIT.

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