Millersburg - Hardcover

Cauley, Harry

3.42

12 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579621333 ISBN 13: 9781579621339

Publisher: Permanent Pr Pub Co, 2006

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Harry Cauley's third novel, Millersburg (Bridie and Finn and The Botticelli Angel preceding) might well be described as "New Jersey Gothic." It's set in 1939 in a small town in Northern New Jersey, narrated by Ben, a 17-year-old boy. He's part of a family ruled by Mamu, his tyrannical grandmother, and starts with a grisly double murder that eventually involves his family and changes, forever, the family dynamics as long-kept secrets begin to unravel.

In addition to being an award winning novelist, Harry Cauley is also an award-winning film writer, a distinguished playwright (two of his plays have appeared on Broadway), actor (appearing in over fifty plays), director, and television writer (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman).

Among the other beautifully rendered members of the family are Ben's mother Eulalie, vague, distracted, and ineffective, his sister Estella, who pines for a local sheriff's deputy she is allowed to see only in the presence of Mamu, and Uncle Josh, Mamu's reclusive younger half-brother who lives alone in a shack on a creek and provides the only culture--and respite--that Ben and Estella know.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. During the steamy summer of 1939, a lurid double murder rocks sleepy Millersburg, N.J., in Cauley's accomplished third novel. The crime implicates Josh Pritchard, the beloved uncle of Ben Whyte, who's about to turn 17 and undergoes a triumphant rite of passage as he learns many shocking truths about his family. Much to the distress of Ben's formidable grandmother, Adela Pritchard Wayland (aka Mamu), the murder investigation overshadows her announcement that she plans to die by summer's end. Memorable characters include Ben's sweet sister, Estella; his seemingly fragile mother, Eulalie; and the true heads of the Wayland household, Priddie and Osceola Flowers, a serenely powerful African-American couple employed by the domineering Mamu, whose bitterness and anger are as fully evoked as the farm and goats she loves more than anything or anyone. Cauley (The Botticelli Angel), who's also a playwright and actor, doesn't waste a word in this exquisite time capsule. (Oct.)
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Review:

"Cauley delightfully relays his layered saga in prose as thick and languorous as a New Jersey afternoon in July." -- People, November 13, 2006

"When the family members' various secrets come out, you can't help but sympathize with them, even hapless Mamu." -- Entertainment Weekly, November 10, 2006

Readers might expect brainy discourse in literary fiction, though not always in a thriller. Millersburg is filled with smart touches. -- Amy Virshup, The New York Times, November 16, 2006

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