Book Review: The Virgin of Small Plains

Reviewed By: Cheryl - RAM

The Virgin of Small Plains     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Nancy Pickard
Class/Genre:   Mystery

Small towns - even much beloved small towns whose residents are making a brave stand in the face of rural depopulation - are not cozy. Nevertheless, the residents of Small Plains, Kansas are proud of their small-town values. Horrified by the discovery of the body of a young woman, hardly more than a girl, they provide her with a proper burial and monument, and gradually, over the next seventeen years, turn her into a secular virgin saint and miracle worker. They do not find out who she was, or who was responsible for her death.

At the time of the mysterious woman's death, the lives of a group of high school friends suddenly changed in ways they did not understand. Seventeen years later, they want to find out the truth about that long ago winter.

The closeness of small town life is created in part by its pressures. In a small town, there are few alternatives to accepting people one might not like or respect very much, and protecting one's own may require supping with the devil. Frightened people do not have anonymous officials to appeal to; they must deal with officials they have known and lived with all their lives, whether they like them or despise them. A nameless dead woman from another town who has no one to speak for her is far less important to anyone than family is.

Old sins cast long shadows, and the fact that the people of Small Plains provided the woman with a nice grave and a cult following are not enough to remedy the wrong done to her.

Nancy Pickard has painted a very realistic view of small town life and relationships. Her beautiful and highly evocative descriptions of the land and sky show why so many of the characters remain tied to their town after so many years. I thought some of the characterization faltered a little at the end - the villains were rather two-dimensional - but on the whole, this is a gripping story with a strong sense of place.

Cheryl - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Cheryl - RAM