The 25 C Miracle

This compassionate first novel is skillfully related and its characters are perceptively drawn. Elvira, the protagonist, is a lonely, neglected child who lives in a trailer with her father Hank, a man ill-equipped for parenting. ""They ain't no guarantees worth piddly squat,'' Hank warns Elvira, but in her sweetly comic, half-conscious way, Elvira sets out to improve the odds. Love enters her life in the form of Miss Ivy, a divorced librarian who generously satisfies Elvira's need for a sense of home, for beauty and care. Eventually, Hank awakens and also takes a protective role. The situation is rather standard, but the author creates much sympathy for Elvira and the others. A noteworthy debut. (1113)