Once upon a Time on the Banks - Softcover

Cathie Pelletier was born and raised on the banks of the St. John River, at the end of the road in Northern Maine. She is the author of 9 other novels, including The Funeral Makers (NYTBR Notable Book), The Weight of Winter (winner of the New England Book Award) and Running the Bulls (winner of the Paterson Prize for Fiction). As K. C. McKinnon, she has written two novels, both of which became television films. After years of living in Nashville, Tennessee Toronto, Canada and Eastman, Quebec, she has returned to Allagash, Maine and the family homestead where she was born. She is at work on a new novel.

Here we return to Mattagash, Maine, in a tale as lively as Pelletier's previous one about that hapless riverside hamlet ( The Funeral Makers , LJ 5/15/86). The Sixties have arrived and Amy Joy Lawler plans a controversial miniskirted wedding. Meanwhile, her upscale Portland relations, the Ivys, have troubles: their funeral home lacks clients, a Liz Taylor lookalike pursues the married son and heir, and to witness Amy Joy's nuptials they must stay at Albert Pinkham's motel, scene of past humiliations. Nearby, the Snopes-like Giffords feud over events at Penny's post-Christmas sale while hoping to enhance their stock of hubcaps at the wedding reception parking lot. When these folks get together, the resulting mix of zany comedy, pathos, and sense of place makes worthwhile reading.
- Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.
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