Stillness in the Air

The year is 1905 and just as sure as the boll weevils nest in the rafters of the barn to return next year, so the seeds of madness lay waiting to destroy the McKinnon family.

In Louise Goodman's new novel, Darla McKinnon tells her story-of a young girl, born into a violent family where denial of reality becomes their way of surviving. From the cotton fields of Texas to the streets of Los Angeles, Darla's rich imagination leads her to believe that California presents them all the opportunity to lead a "proper" life. Fantasy rarely comes true, but, in Stillness In The Air, it seems that some of Darla's dreams are realized when she is sent to live at a farmhouse in Anaheim where she cares for the ailing Mrs. Sparrow. Here she learns how to love and lets herself be loved. She matures into a thoughtful and lovely young woman. But happiness has a way of fleeing when least expected and so it is that Darla is thrown into a battle of wills with her ruthless brother, Jasper. His derangement spirals deeper into madness, threatening to take Darla and her two sisters with him.