Roseflower Creek
 J. L. Miles
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 Cumberland House, Nashville TN
  ISBN: 1581822405


Lori Jean's life is short & heartwrenching in the rural South of the 1950s. When you read the first line: “The morning I died it rained. Poured down so hard it washed the blood off my face,” you know you are in for an unusual read.

Roseflower Creek is that & more! A feisty & thoughtful memoir of an articulate girl's life & times. When she was little, her grandmother filled her universe & kept it safe, even as her mother struggled with a lonely life. Then Lori Jean' mother meets her sister's brother-in-law & they get married.

Lori Jean's mother has an unfortunate habit of picking bad men. The first leaves for greener pastures, the second one can't keep a job & drinks.

Lori Jean's auntie, on the other hand, has married a gem of a man & as long as they live all together, Lori Jean thrives.

Then Lori Jean's grandmother dies, her auntie & uncle move to their own home, & Lori Jean's step-father makes life ugly. So ugly that eventually, in a drunken rage, he snuffs out the child's life. What happens next is the stuff of mysteries, until her mother lands in jail for another murder.

Roseflower Creek could have been a dreadful read about another family destroyed by bad choices, emotional instability all held hostage by domestic violence. It is, however, not so dreadful, because of Lori Jean's take on how we adults behave & the strange & dangerous relationships we foster.

Author J. L. Miles has crafted a fine mystery, told in the voice of a victim who is like no victim we've met before.

Roseflower Creek is both a difficult & redeeming read. It could have been sappy & sentimental, instead J. L. Miles has given us an absorbing, fascinating glimpse into another place, another time...from another angle!

Well done!
(05/26/02)

Rebecca