Glass Boys

August 6, 2012
In her fourth novel (after The Seary Line), Lundrigan crafts two families who, over two generations, are linked by secrets and bloodshed in small-town Knifeâs Point, Newfoundland. When Eli Fagan discovers a pickle jar filled with lewd pictures of a young boy taken by his 11-year-old stepson, Garrett, he attacks him in outrage and accidentally kills a neighboring man, Roy Trench, who tries to intervene. Years later, Royâs brother Lewis and his family still live alongside the Fagans, although Lewisâ two sons know nothing of Garrettâs secret or the history between the Trenches and the Fagans. Garrett has grown into a disturbed man who haunts the woods near the townâs elementary school and beach looking for young boys, drawn to the impressionable "odd one out" with his "innocence of dirty finger nails." When Lewisâ sons, Melvin and Toby, find themselves in a tense confrontation with Garrett, the violent past shared between the families threatens to repeat itself. Through the darkness, Lundigran tenderly creates moments of hope for her characters, like the budding romance between Toby and the Fagansâ youngest daughter, Angie, that suggests the two can escape the history ensnaring their families. Lundigranâs characters are fully aliveânuanced and flawedâdrawing readers into their plight in this rich, evocative novel.

Starred review from August 1, 2012
Like most young boys, Garrett Glass has a special hiding place for secret things. Unlike most young boys, Garrett's secret cache of treasures accidentally gets a neighbor, Roy Trench, killed after being discovered by Garrett's violent stepfather, Eli Fagan. Lewis Trench witnessed the death of his brother and realized that becoming a policeman would be the best way to keep a lawful eye on the Fagan family. Now grown, Lewis has watched his tightly knit family start to unravel at the seams, and the bloody aftermath of Eli's discovery refuses to stay in the past. The dark and blustery town, set in a remote Newfoundland landscape, provides an ideal backdrop for Lundrigan's eerily gothic tale, a study in isolation. Lundrigan's authorial voice is adept and fluid, as her sweetly poetic retelling of Lewis' first encounter with his wife provides a stark contrast to her descriptions of Eli's violent rages and Garrett's compulsive fixations. This is a darkly atmospheric work examining the lasting power of love, loyalty, and family secrets. Readers who enjoy Annie Proulx and Kent Haruf will find similar themes in Lundrigan's work. A pitch-perfect novel with a writing style that shifts as easily as the characters' moods, Glass Boys is a triumph.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)