Our Year at the Fahm: Or, Blessed Are the Cracked for They Shall Let in the Light

You can take the girl out of California, but you can't prepare her for a New England winter, as Parker learns in her witty memoir.

Sara Parker gives us an unvarnished tour of her new life with her tongue in her cheek and her heart on her sleeve. Sara shares her woes and triumphs with such humor - both extra dry and fairily whimsical; she treats language like a lovely lump of Play-Dough, sometimes creating words, phrases and names for inanimate objects that convey their essence far more effectively than conventional wordery can. (It's catching ) Although this true account is often a romp worthy of Lucy, it also ventures fearlessly to lonely places, human frailties, political insights, world woes, love of animals, as well as rampant mouse poo and homemade applesauce. It shows us how hard hard work can be, the shock of sudden crises, and helps us, by example, to go with the flow. It honors the beauty of Nature. It celebrates good people and laughs at the meanies. Sara's every response to her new life is informed by her big sensitive heart, which in turn warmed mine. My inner child smiles. Her subtitle suits her - she lets in the light.. Recommended.

Page count: 180pp
Publisher: CreateSpace
Program: Kirkus Indie
Review Posted Online: July 20th, 2012

Sara Parker lives and writes in Massachusetts and California. This is her first book.