Rain Village

Tessa Riley, mocked by one and all for being "about a third of the size of the usual kind," resides uneasily in the early 20th-century farming community of Oakley, Kans., avoiding her rigid, abusive father; Bible-thumping mother; and aggressively normal siblings whenever she can. But Tessa, who narrates, finds comfort in Mary Finn, the newly arrived librarian to whom everyone has an attraction of one sort of another (leading, natch, to difficulty and resentment). Mary, known as Marionetta during her days as a flyer in the Velasquez Circus, teaches Tessa to read and tells her stories about a fantastical place called Rain Village; Tessa uses the stories, and Mary's attention, as an escape from ridicule and from her father's sexual abuse. Following Mary's enigmatic suicide, Tessa runs to Kansas City and waits for the circus to arrive, and ultimately becomes its star. She marries Mauro, one of the Flying Ramirez Brothers, but she continues to obsess over Mary and her stories. When Mary's nephew Costas arrives at the circus and announces that he is going to Rain Village, Tessa chooses to join him, unsure what she'll find there. Turgeon, in her debut, turns in a credible Francesca Lia Block–style fable, but the mystery of Mary's suicide and of Rain Village itself aren't enough to sustain interest in Tessa's quest. The conclusion is abrupt and leaves Tessa stranded. (Nov.)