Ursula Major -

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Résumé :
Forget disco balls. Forget bell-bottoms. Forget lava lamps and mood rings and pet rocks.For Jeremy Hilary Jones, the '70s were all about survival. Appalachian settings ... fractured families ... vulnerable children ... Ursula Major is a quirky family saga in the vein of a reminiscence about a bullied youth struggling to keep his younger sister safe while their parents' marriage disintegrates. Take good care of your sister. This is the refrain Jeremy repeatedly hears growing up in a family of four in a small town on the Ohio River beginning in 1974, when Ursula-nicknamed Ursie, his parents' Little Bear cub-is born. But his father abandons the family for salmon fishing in Alaska, and his mother turns to a snake-handling religious sect for spiritual comfort. From here, brother and sister navigate a series of challenges that culminate in the '80s with a brutal assault that bonds the siblings in a quest for revenge. It all starts when Jeremy's mother gives birth to Ursie in the back of a bus. But psychological counseling has convinced Jeremy that his memory about this incident is faulty if not fabricated. And now as an adult reflecting on his adolescence, he is beginning to doubt the core truth of other life-changing episodes. As the grown-up version of Jeremy contemplates reality versus imagination, he can only wonder: What matters more: objective truth or the relationships that endure, forged by trauma? It's a question for the reader to ponder as well....

Biographie:
A native of Youngstown, Ohio, B. Robert Conklin (he, him, his) lives, writes, and works in Columbus, where he and his spouse nurture the ambitions of their three Gen-Z kids. His stories have appeared in Blue Moon Literary & Art Review, THAT Literary Magazine, and Kestrel, as well as various ezines. He has also co-authored a college composition textbook to help emerging writers connect with their world. His first two novels placed as back-to-back finalists in the suspense category of the National Indie Excellence? Awards....

Sommaire:
Forget disco balls. Forget bell-bottoms. Forget lava lamps and mood rings and pet rocks.For Jeremy Hilary Jones, the '70s were all about survival. Appalachian settings ... fractured families ... vulnerable children ... Ursula Major is a quirky family saga in the vein of a reminiscence about a bullied youth struggling to keep his younger sister safe while their parents' marriage disintegrates. Take good care of your sister. This is the refrain Jeremy repeatedly hears growing up in a family of four in a small town on the Ohio River beginning in 1974, when Ursula-nicknamed Ursie, his parents' Little Bear cub-is born. But his father abandons the family for salmon fishing in Alaska, and his mother turns to a snake-handling religious sect for spiritual comfort. From here, brother and sister navigate a series of challenges that culminate in the '80s with a brutal assault that bonds the siblings in a quest for revenge. It all starts when Jeremy's mother gives birth to Ursie in the back of a bus. But psychological counseling has convinced Jeremy that his memory about this incident is faulty if not fabricated. And now as an adult reflecting on his adolescence, he is beginning to doubt the core truth of other life-changing episodes. As the grown-up version of Jeremy contemplates reality versus imagination, he can only wonder: What matters more: objective truth or the relationships that endure, forged by trauma? It's a question for the reader to ponder as well....