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A Small Harvest
of Pretty Days
by Larry Kimport
"A bittersweet and tender
love story with a
surprising twist."
ForemostPress.com
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A Small Harvest
of Pretty Days
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About this book, read ...
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Then he set his hook and cast it out to a plop in the slow passing
water, and said with his back still to me, "No, Miss Clara, I
don’t care to judge folks. There’s plenty enough of that goin’
around."
Then I surprised my own self, but apparently not Mr. Finley
beside me with, "Would you care to judge me?"
He turned to me then, and he looked so kind and true.
"No, Miss Clara. No, I wouldn’t, because I don’t have enough
of that tale neither, nor have I ever ast for it."
Oh, how I wanted to trade his secret for mine, so I gathered
up my breath and went ahead with it.
"We’ve come to be friends, haven’t we, Mr. Finley?"
"Yes, to my great pleasure I like to believe that, Miss Clara,"
he said softer, sitting down beside me. A couple of loose rocks
shifted.
I looked straight ahead, across the creek and into the trees. "I
fear so, that you’ve heard things of me. Of my past, and perhaps
of my character. Of my situation, you see."
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Readers > Kimport_L > Small Harvest
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Excerpts | Comments And Reviews | Author Info
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In 1890s Pennsylvania, Clara Waltz is returning home from visiting ailing old Mrs. Snyder. She encounters a drunken man who, along with four others, had gang-raped her eleven years prior. Terrified, she flees on foot, hiding in a partially fallen tree along a riverbank. From within she sees an unknown tattered-looking man suddenly appear. A great fracas ensues. When all has quieted down, she crawls out and finds that the rapist has been murdered. The stranger is nowhere in sight.
Clara becomes a suspect with the discovery of yet another murder. He, too, was one she steadfastly accused of raping her. Soon an aging drifter comes to the farm where Clara and her illegitimate daughter live as domestic help to a prominent farm family. Clara finds herself being drawn to him, in spite of believing him to be the killer.
This first-person narrative is told through Clara's voice, as an older woman, as a legacy to her children. It's a tale of abuse and murder, but, ultimately, a tale of love and hope.
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From A Review
Larry Kimport’s second novel, A Small Harvest of Pretty Days, is a letter from a time, way of life, and mode of storytelling that evokes the best of turn-of-the-century Americana easily sentimentalized in lesser hands. But Kimport manages to transport us to 1890’s Pennsylvania with relatively little overt facade; he taps the reservoir of this lost world in his first few paragraphs and offers a page-turner of a novel as gripping as it is harrowing.
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I conceived this love story while walking my dog, and worked on it long into nights after the kids were in bed. I've always been fascinated by what became of Huck Finn after The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. What became of him when he outgrew adolescence and became an adult? This story is my account of that period in his life.
The whole thing was much fun to ponder. I hope you enjoy it.
Larry Kimport
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Loyalsock Creek, where Clara Waltz and Hank Finley spent quiet hours fishing for bullheads and sharing stories. Photo by Mary Kimport
Susquehanna Valley aflame in full autumn color.
Photo by J. Keith Barbour, 1956-2005
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