JUDEVINE
The central narratives revolve around two couples: Tommy Stames, haunted by his wartime experiences, and Grace, who loves Tommy and her children with an angry devotion. The fierce passion of their affair is contrasted with the 50-year marriage of Ann and Raymond Miller, who pass through life and into death with a peace and serenity that puzzle even themselves (“Have we become so predictable?” Ann wonders). As we observe the destinies of these two sets of lovers, we meet other residents of Judevine: Antoine LaMotte, father figure to the men on his lumber-camp crew; Roy McInnes, a welder whose handiwork has the grandeur of basilicas and whose shop rings with a hallelujah anvil chorus; postmaster Edgar Whitcomb and city clerk Laura Cate, who share an enduring and unspoken romance; factory seamstress Bobbie, beautiful despite “two brown teeth” and a maimed hand, and her sometimes-beau the bearish Doug; storekeeper Alice Twiss, who drives a Harley-Davidson and inspires jealousy even in the allegedly objective narrator. And many, many more no better or worse than people everywhere.
