The Locket

This amateurish novella about a homeless man and an inexplicably generous woman is hamstrung by cardboard characterization. Fate brings 30-year-old David to the door of a blue Victorian house on a snowy winter’s night in Pittsburgh. After collapsing in the foyer from cold, fatigue, and hunger, he awakens the next morning in a warm bed. Following his nose downstairs to a sumptuous breakfast, he’s greeted by 82-year-old Alice; her servants, siblings Celeste and Douglas, who seem to be about his age; and Celeste’s 12-year-old daughter. David wonders why Alice has taken him in, but he quickly settles into the house’s comfy routine, doing odd jobs to pay for the room and board. Months go by while David makes feeble, intermittent attempts to determine the real reason for Alice’s kindness, which is finally revealed in a wave of exposition at the very end. Rowlands (Catch the Sky) populates a sweet, magical story with puppet characters, mechanical vehicles for getting a job done. [em](BookLife) [/em]