Thursday, January 9, 2014

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick

A stranger, Charlie Beale arrives in Brownsburg, Virginia in 1948.  Brownsburg is a small, tight knit place where outsiders are met with caution.  He arrives in town with a suitcase full of cash.  From where and why he has come remains a mystery throughout the story.  He buys a piece of land by the river where he finds peace sleeping under the stars.  He is skilled as a butcher and finds work in the small town shop run by Will.  Will's son, Sam becomes Charlie's constant companion.

The townspeople grow to like Charlie accepting his presence.  They like the the way he cuts their meat, how he teaches the children to play baseball, the comraderie he built with Sam.  He has found his wonderful. Wonderful however is what a person makes of it.  And Charlie makes one mistake. He becomes obsessed with Sylvan, the beautiful, young country wife of Boaty Glass, the richest and meanest man in town. 

The pair manage to keep their weekly trysts secret from the prying eyes of the townspeople, but not for long. Even Boaty turns a blind eye until his wife displays her true strength at a birthday party for Sam in front of all the townspeople.  Boaty begins to destroy all that is to Charlie,wonderful.  

Heading Out to Wonderful is a pleasure to read, well written, captivating. I warn you however, it's dark and most of all, sad.  It's a novel that sets a reader on that ride, that we all long for in a book.  The one that makes us laugh and cry, feel warm and fuzzy, or even a touch nauseous all while never ever being able to put the story down until the last word has been read.  Heading Out to Wonderful does all that and then some.  It's wonderful.

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