Rainey's Lament

Baby Rainbow Planet becomes Rainey Astrid McBride after she is abandoned by her teenaged mother in this affecting coming-of-age novel set in rural Wisconsin. Taken in by her stern but dutiful grandparents, Rainey is made to suffer for her mothers sins as well as for her own bookish intelligence, considered unseemly by the small rural community. As a child, she dreams that her mother will return to rescue her from her strict, resentful grandmother. At 12, she begs Gods forgiveness for wanting more. Later she transfers her longing to her glamorous second cousin, Ambrose Torsten Dienst, with whom she forms a secret alliance during one of his rare visits from New York. But Ambrose, who has suffered sexual abuse, chooses death over his commitment to Rainey, leaving her with guilt for not having saved him. The world is two places, two rooms, Rainey decides. One room is filled by those who know grief, and the other by those who wait quietly behind the door. Counterpoint to the revelation of terrible loss and soul-scarring secrets is the bedrock of religious faith. Rainey is strong but not annoyingly saintly; as she matures she makes difficult moral choices. Her grandparents, Scandinavian immigrants who often invoke the Old Country, seem stereotypical at first, but are gradually revealed as multifaceted; they, too, have suffered dreadful losses, which they are too stoical to acknowledge. Beautifully observed and written with grave and elegiac insight, the narrative begins on Thanksgiving Day 1970, and ends on the same day 22 years later. Raineys life is no holiday, but she grows to embrace it with gratitude; in the end, her lament becomes a song of cautious affirmation. (June) FYI: Ridley has published two novels in England: Throwing Roses and The Remarkable Journey of Miss Tranby Quirke.