Chance Place
Frankie Schelly
(Reviewer - Kate Holmes)
2002 FireSign Exclusives
ISBN: 1591132207 Amazon's price is: $18.95
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Frenchy Bibideaux, a recovering alcoholic with a quirky sense of humor, finds himself wrongfully placed in a halfway house for the mentally ill.
Once there, Frenchy befriends New Age bent schizophrenic Nathan Waite, whose family has all but fallen apart from the emotional & financial drain of his illness.
Associate Reviewer Kate Holmes writes:
Chance Place, set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the last house on the street for Frenchy, who lands in the group home as the result of a scrape with the law.
Peso, a dealer in women's bodies, & Frenchy's mentor has taught Frenchy well, after a fashion. Years of abuse, both as a child & as an adult, have rendered Frenchy devoid of social graces, sexually confused, & therefore fit only to live with the mentally ill. Here he meets Nathan, whose college education as well as his beloved girlfriend have been lost to his debilitating disease.
The two men hesitantly embark on a rocky & often painful alliance which in time will teach Frenchy the power of friendship, & Nathan, the value of forgiveness.
Frenchy's first meeting with his parole officer, Sister Kathleen, evokes grandiose sexual feelings, leading him to make an inappropriate remark to her, the first of several really serious gaffes.
Nathan, on the other hand, has no illusions about the worth of his life, leaving him hopelessly unable to communicate, & withdrawn. Coming from such completely opposite backgrounds, Frenchy & Nathan are the two least likely companions imaginable.
Chance Place is a definite study of our social situation as it applies to the mentally ill & those others who fall through the cracks of the system. Frankie Schelly's understanding of these matters is evident in the manner in which she presents Frenchy, who narrates this tale, & the tragic figure of Nathan. Although there are some instances where the telling of Frenchy's life becomes uncomfortably detailed & explicit, it is certainly an eye opener to any reader not familiar with the seedier side of life.
In the tradition of A Beautiful Mind, Frankie Schelly's Chance Place was a finalist for the International Ernest Hemingway First Novel Award. Judges said: “A sensitively told story. For the literary reader this is a real find.” It was also a finalist for the James Fellowship Novel in Progress Award & North Carolina Banks Channel Books Publisher's Award.
Reviewer's Bio
She is a Canadian wife, mother, grandmother, & avid reader. She has hungered for knowledge her whole life which has led her to haunt her local library & used book stores, looking for “old friends.” She has several bookshelves over which presides a print of Amergin, an ancient wizard from Celtic myth.
A welcome addition to her study, Della, her computer (named for its maker), has become a large part of her world. For some time Kate Holmes reviewed for another ezine, & as a means of giving herself a more varied reading experience, has joined RebeccasReads as a Associate Reviewer.
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