A DEVIL SINGING SMALL

A DEVIL SINGING SMALL

ABOUT Karen Charbonneau

Karen Charbonneau
Reared on a ranch in Idaho. Obtained a J.D. in 1978. Practiced law as an army JAG in the Washington, D.C. area. Lived in Wyoming and am now back on that ranch in Idaho. Who says you can't go home again.

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Description

On sale now @ $ .99.  A family saga, spanning the years from World War II through the Vietnam War and after, recounting the unseen wounds war inflicts on two generations of a family. With a raw authenticity stripped of self-pity and a poet's eye for lyrical detail, Betty recounts her wartime romance with Army Air Corps Sergeant Mitch Lanier, raised in a Catholic orphanage, and a combat veteran; their rocky marriage; the births of a son and daughter and Mitch’s gradual spiral from a man who could build or fix anything into a schizophrenic, obsessed with the Virgin Mary and extra-terrestrial flight. They raise their family in rural Idaho and Betty relies on her inner life – her love of the land – to give her the courage to fulfill her marriage vows and to protect her family. From her life of subservience to that of the family’s bread-winner, temptation, fear and love give a razor’s edge to a sometime funny, often difficult life. It is also the story of the conflicting relationship between mother and daughter Torie, and Betty’s pride and fears for son, Michael, who becomes a combat infantry lieutenant in Vietnam. The author drew on her observations of her father’s mental illness to give this novel authenticity.