It was true that Knot drank a lot; even Otis Lee Loving,
Knot’s best friend down the road, told her so. Otis Lee and
his wife, Pep, worried about Knot. When Knot woke up one day
and realized that she was pregnant, they worried even more.
Seems that was what Otis Lee did best: worry.
After he found a nearby family to take Knot’s daughter and
raise her up, Otis Lee and Pep warned Knot not to sleep
around anymore but pretty soon, Knot’s belly grew big again.
She mourned for months about her first girl-child, who was
named Fran, and when Otis Lee found another family for the
second girl, Knot mourned again. Otis Lee knew he’d have
done the same thing, much as he loved his own son, Breezy.
And time passed in West Mills. Knot’s girls were raised
almost right beneath her nose and Otis Lee and Pep kept her
secret. There was no use telling those girls about who’d
given them birth, just like there was no reason to tell Otis
Lee the secret about his family that Knot had heard from
another friend. There was just no sense in hurting Otis Lee
with that information.
But in a little North Carolina town like West Mills, secrets
have a way of escaping. Sometimes, they’re slippery little
things.
And sometimes, they’re let go in anger and revenge…
In West Mills
is one of those novels that makes you want to pause.
It’s slow, that’s it. It takes place over decades, as its
two main characters grow, for better or worse, and age
together and apart. At first, you might even think that
it’ll never get to the point – although it seems that is
the point.
Yes, this novel works its way through slowly, but you’d be
hard-pressed to find a tale that depicts friendship any
better. Author De’Shawn Charles Winslow puts truth in this
novel, in the form of frustration and exasperation real
friends have between them, even though they love one another
fiercely. He does that without ruining the story with too
much silly drama, and there’s your slow-down factor.
In the end, though, that offers a languid, hazy feeling,
somewhat like walking barefoot down a dusty Carolina road on
a summer’s day. It makes you want to linger.
In the end, that makes In West Mills a book that’s no
burden to enjoy. |