Crow of Clay

By Edie Mellgren

This novel is set in the early 1940's in rural southern Iowa. It revolves around the lives of two young schoolgirls and their families. Bert Wilber is coping with the aftermath of losing his wife. Devastated, Bert seeks to bury his pain in back breaking farm work. His daughter Beth is a well mannered, quiet, and non-complaining five year old. She has been much more deeply affected by her mother's passing than anyone realizes. She seeks solace in nature and in her pets, including her loyal dog Shep and a beloved pet crow she names Billy. Beth attends Center #3, a one-room country school where the all round outstanding student is child genius Kathryn Langdon. Kate is beautiful, spoiled, sassy, and impulsive. She is unchallenged by the naive first year teacher and is forever bored by the mundane repetitiveness of the school days. Her unremitting efforts to step up interest results in daily quandaries for herself, the instructor, and the other students. She is often guilty of deeds which get her into trouble with the teacher. Tribulations intensify for Bert, Beth, and Kate when her Aunt Mildred Langdon, recently fired for stubborn insubordination, shows up to stay with her brother and sister-in-law, Kate's parents. Mildred is an unattractive, joyless, obsessive, and self indulgent spinster who brings her meanness with her. At the school Halloween play and potluck, she lays eyes on Bert and decides she will have him. Fed up with living alone and incensed at losing several suitors to more attractive women she launches into duplicity. When in the company of Bert she is gushy, flattering, and feigns pleasantness in an all out drive to win his affections and his hand. But because of her extreme dislike of children Mildred is prone to use offensive, conniving, and heavy-handed tactics when alone with Beth or Kate. During a black and dangerous lightening, wind, and hail storm a neighborhood couple take refuge in Bert's storm cellar. With them is their niece Lisa, an attractive and kind young woman from Chicago. Despite an age difference Beth and Lisa immediately become close friends. Mildred learns of Lisa's presence in the neighborhood, immediately sees her as a rival, and becomes insanely jealous. Her manner of dealing with suspicion is to crush anything or any one standing in her way by the power of her personality. She teams with local thug and much feared bad guy Josh Clayton and things go entirely out of hand. In a fast paced, descriptive, and stunning climax Kate steps forward with several very startling disclosures. And in doing so she teaches Beth important life lessons which are as enlightening as they are unexpected.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 150860701X
• ISBN13: 9781508607014
• Release Date: June 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"