Marva Cope, the fourth novel in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas Series, brings new elements to the story of the small town in the Texas Panhandle.
Marva arrives as the new postmaster in 2017. She brings with her a lifetime of hesitancy to open herself to others. It is here, while living with her elder Aunt Violet, that she comes to appreciate the value of true friendships. With new relationships, long walks, and conversations with herself, she comes to terms with her difficult past…the loss of a beloved teenaged brother in a tragic farm accident, her father’s death from a broken heart, and a distant mother who had no love for the young teenager.
Troubled teenage years followed as a flawed young man lures her to New Mexico, then left her alone with their newborn daughter. With her newfound courage of trusting others as friends, she reconnects with her daughter and a college dorm-mate she had deserted in years past. In Jackson’s Pond, she finds the ability to consider what to do with the rest of her life.
“Remember this. Now is what you have, all you have.”
Marva Cope by Teddy Jones is the fourth book in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas, series, but it can easily stand alone or be read out of sequence. All the books in this series shine a sweet literary spotlight on the rugged Texas Panhandle landscape and the various people who have always or will eventually call Jackson’s Pond, Texas, home sweet home.
When tragedy strikes in 1975 in Dimmitt, Texas, Marva Cope’s young life shifts drastically, setting her on an epic journey of heartbreak and healing. While grievous events affected Marva’s life as a teenager, her subsequent choices and stunted social abilities formed a lifelong murky path of emotional defense and survival. Ultimately, fate leads Marva to Jackson’s Pond in 2017, right into the unconditional and restorative arms of her Aunt Violet. While the plot is simple yet poignant, the characterization drives this literary fiction. Marva, as the protagonist, takes center stage, of course, but other characters shine just as brightly (for me, at least), such as Aunt Violet; Chick Talley; Carol McQueen; and sweet, protective Bullet.
Teddy Jones delivers yet another literary Texas jewel with Marva Cope, drawing readers in on page one and inviting them to sit a spell with Aunt Violet and a glass of wine and listen to Marva Cope tell her story. As Marva slowly lays bare her past, something extraordinary happens in her present. By speaking her truth, Marva creates room in her heart for love, companionship, and a closer relationship with her daughter, finally unfurling her long-dormant smile.
Yes, Marva Cope is melancholy and bittersweet from start to finish, but it is also a brilliant portrayal of a life worth living, even one filled with hard choices, a closed heart, and regrets. It is never too late to break down those barriers and allow yourself to give and receive hope, love, and friendship.
Enter the giveaway below on or before March 17, 2023, for a chance to win some truly amazing prizes!
I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.
Teddy Jones is the author of five published novels, as well as a collection of short stories. Her short fiction received the Gold Medal First Prize in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2015. Jackson’s Pond, Texas was a finalist for the 2014 Willa Award in contemporary fiction from Women Writing the West. Her novel, Making It Home, was a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2017 and A Good Family (not yet unpublished) was named finalist in that contest in 2018.
Although her fiction tends to be set in West Texas, her characters’ lives embody issues not bounded by geography of any particular region. Families and loners; communities in flux; people struggling, others successful; some folks satisfied in solitude and others yearning for connection populate her work. And they all have in common that they are more human than otherwise.
Jones grew up in a small Texas town, Iowa Park. Earlier she worked as a nurse, a nurse educator, a nursing college administrator, and as a nurse practitioner in Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. For the past twenty years, she and her husband have lived in the rural West Texas Panhandle where he farms and she writes.
|
03/07/23 |
Excerpt |
|
|
03/07/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/07/23 |
BONUS promo |
|
|
03/08/23 |
Excerpt |
|
|
03/08/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/09/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/09/23 |
BONUS promo |
|
|
03/10/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/11/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/12/23 |
Scrapbook |
|
|
03/13/23 |
Deleted Scene |
|
|
03/14/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/14/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/15/23 |
Series Spotlight |
|
|
03/15/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/16/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/16/23 |
Review |
blog tour services
provided by
Outstanding review — and I’ve had this whole series on my TBR & bookshelf for a long time, but LIFE keeps getting in the way of my reading. I just got this book, and I think I’ll start with it. Love that you can hop around. Thanks for sharing!