Leaving Eden FROM OUR EDITORS
Tallie Brock longs for Glamour Day, the day that she can exit Lovettsville. Sweeping up piles of discarded tresses at the local beauty emporium, she wonders about the world beyond Klip-N-Kurl, the outside world that her own mother saw just once. Anybody with a heart can identify with Tallie's slow trek towards her sketchy dreams.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The promise of beauty—the kind of real, personal beauty that can transform a person's life—arrived in Eden, Virginia, on the fourth Thursday in June." That's the day Tallie Brock sees the sign at the Klip-N-Kurl, the beauty parlor where she works part-time, sweeping the floor and refilling shampoo bottles, among other chores. (What she really enjoys is listening to the women chat, gossip, and buzz like a beehive.) The sign in the front window announces GLAMOUR DAY. For twenty dollars, a woman can receive a complete professional makeover—and a glossy nine-by-twelve-inch picture of the result.
For Tallie, the glam shot just may be her ticket out of Lovettsville. She dreams of someday going to Hollywood and becoming a Star. Her mother, who was the spitting image of Natalie Wood, used to say "the sky's the limit." In fact, her mother once left home to make a movie in Los Angeles. But she returned six months later without whispering a word about it—and tried to pick up her life right where she left off. Tallie noticed something different, though. And her mother's best friend, Martha Lee, the plainest woman within miles, knew the secret that soon the whole town would discover. At the time, Tallie was just afraid her mother would get antsy and disappear again. She was only half right.
But that was four years ago, and now Glamour Day is fast approaching. While jotting down observations in her Rulebook for Living (such as "Women with fat faces shouldn't wear bangs" and "Beetles signify change"), Tallie finds herself changing in unexpected ways—as she tests the limits of trust, explores her growing attraction to a boy from a family as rich as herimagination, and reaches for the sky like she has never done before.
By turns funny and tender, joyous and poignant, bestselling author Anne LeClaire has written a winning, stylish novel of small-town Southern life— and what it means to be a mother, daughter, best friend, wife, and lover.
About the Author: Anne D. LeClaire is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Entering Normal. She is also a short story writer who teaches and lectures on writing and the creative process, and has worked as a radio broadcaster, a journalist, and a correspondent for The Boston Globe. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Redbook, and Yankee magazine among others. She is the mother of two adult children and lives on Cape Cod.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Dreams of Hollywood fame descend on the denizens of even the smallest of small towns, and Eden, Va., is no exception. When 16-year-old Tallie Brock spots a poster advertising a $20 makeover and photo session-Glamour Day, the offer is dubbed-she is convinced it's her ticket to movie stardom. Hollywood dreaming runs in the family. Tallie's mother, Dinah Mae, a dead ringer for Natalie Wood, even named her daughter after Wood. When Tallie was 12, Dinah Mae spent six months in Los Angeles, hoping to land a role as Natalie in a television biopic. Upon her return, Tallie was eager for news of what Dinah Mae had been doing, but had to resort to eavesdropping when her mother would confide only in her best friend, Martha Lee. Ever since Dinah Mae got back, she hasn't been herself and Tallie is afraid that she'll lose her mother again. To keep worry at bay, she writes in her journal, moons over handsome, rich Spaulding Reynolds, worries about her mill-worker father's drinking and dreams of fleeing tiny Eden. What follows is a journey marked by both pain and pleasure. LeClaire's pacing is uneven, her major revelations are awkwardly timed and the tragic incident that triggers the denouement is stagily introduced. Still, Tallie is an endearing character, and the Southern banter of the ladies at the beauty parlor where she works is pitch-perfect. Despite bumps in the delivery, LeClaire's (Entering Normal) homey storytelling goes down easy. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-"A person's job in life is to find and follow her own dream," writes Tallie Brock in her journal, which she calls her "Rulebook for Living." And nothing is more important to the 16-year-old than her dreams. When the opportunity comes for a Glamour Day makeover and photo shoot at the local beauty salon where she is working for the summer, Tallie is certain that it is her ticket out of small-town life in Eden, VA. Readers watch as she copes with the loss of her mother, a distracted and largely unavailable dad, the love and support of her mom's best friend, and the unfamiliar feelings she has for one of the town's richest boys. Overhearing the local women chatting and gossiping in the Klip-N-Kurl, Tallie learns snippets of wisdom, which she dutifully records in her Rulebook. "Never marry a man who wears more jewelry than you do," "Keep your eyes open for the unexpected," "Not one person alive lives a perfect life"-all helpful advice in the difficult and complicated process of growing up. Watching Tallie learn the power of honesty, friendship, forgiveness, and love makes for a pleasant and easy read. Young adults will recognize her struggles, as well as her longing for a world beyond Eden.-Ellen Bottiny, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
AudioFile
In Leaving Eden's coming-of-age story, Tallie Brock is a motherless teenager growing up in a Virginia town. Determined to leave and make it big in Hollywood, Tallie learns some important lessons along the way that bring her both solace and security. Reader Pamela Steele hits the mark, bringing such life and believability to her portrayals of characters and their emotions that each soon becomes someone we all know. Steele mirrors LeClaire's writing by rendering even dramatic and poignant situations in the low-key mode of real people dealing with life's traumas. This combination of compelling story and skilled reader is a laudable addition to the Sound Library collection. P.H.M. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Tender story of a girl growing up motherless in small-town Virginia, by the author of, most recently, Entering Normal (2001), etc. Tallie begins her story by remembering the night her mother finally returned after a six-month jaunt in Hollywood searching for stardom. Dinah Mae, even in her late 30s, was the town beauty, probably the prettiest woman in the whole county. A virtual twin of Natalie Wood, Dinah Mae knew everything there was to know about the dead actress, and she fed Tallie stories of glamour and determination. But when she came back from Hollywood, Tallie's mama just didn't seem the same, and it wasn't just her failure to have landed a movie role. It's soon obvious that Mama has cancer, though for a 12-year-old, a dying mother seems an impossible thing. By the time Tallie is 16 (when the story takes place), her sweet father is drowning his sorrow in drink, she's working the summer at the Klip-N-Kurl, where she diligently writes down all the female wisdom she's privy to and plans on going to Hollywood to fulfill her mother's dream. When Glamour Day comes to the salon (a company of "trained professionals" offer makeovers and glamour pics), Tallie sees it as her escape: all she needs is that eight-by-ten glossy to land herself a movie deal. The story follows Tallie's memories of the past-good times with Mama, then the heartache of watching her die-with her current life in Eden, including the various oddballs at the salon, the witch woman who lives in the woods, and the growing attraction Tallie has for Spy Reynolds, the town's rich boy who has a troubled past of his own. Along the way, Tallie discovers that her mama had quite a few secrets, and only a trip to Hollywood (andfinding who lives at a certain address) will answer the questions Tallie now has. A well-told coming-of-ager: hardly groundbreaking, but sweet enough to jerk a few tears by end.
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