Then Upon the Evil Season

In his second novel, Virtue's naif prose, lilting rendition of New Zealand dialect and endearing tragic-comic plotline show how confident he's become as a writer since The Redemption of Elsdon Bird. Set in New Zealand in the 1950s, the action takes place mostly on the outskirts of Opononi, a rundown seaside resort. Effie and her adopted teenage son Lubin have recently moved there, hoping to escape a past that includes a string of bad debts and a mercy killing: together they suffocated Effie's ailing street-preacher husband. But when Lubin accidentally murders their landlord, events are unleashed that force the two to become accountable for both deaths, and Effie, at least, comes to terms with the past. Critically praised in Great Britain, this highly accessible book should win Virtue new readers. (Nov.)