Synopses & Reviews
Sharon Darrows harrowing coming-of-age tale, told from the points of view of mother, son, and daughter, is rich with metaphorical significance and - like its small-town heroine - is obstinately, everlastingly hopeful.Lexieville, Arkansas, can hardly be called a town - its just a handful of shotgun houses squatting at the end of a gravel road off the two-lane highway out of Sardis. For many in the Lexie clan, this is the only place theyve ever been, the only home theyll ever know. Truly Lexies dreams of a better life, if she had them once upon a time, have worn threadbare and frail as an ancient quilt. Her devoted but hapless husband, John, long ago accepted his lot in life but hasnt given up hope that their two children, Jobe and Pert, might lead the lives theyve only imagined.
But Jobe has already dropped out of high school and looks to be marrying young. Only Pert still harbors a youthful and fierce determination to get out, and get out as fast as she can. She aims to wipe the detested red dust of Lexieville off her feet and put on a new life like a bright, clean, fresh coat of paint. The weight of history is hard to shrug off, however, and seems to grow heavier as Pert moves closer to independence. With little support and no role models to follow, will she have the strength to fend off generations worth of fatalism, and the confidence to defend her dreams?
About the Author
Sharon Darrow says that THE PAINTERS OF LEXIEVILLE had its start when she was seventeen and working one summer in an Arkansas county welfare office. "A man and his son came in one day to begin their county jobs, all dressed in white painters clothing," she recalls. "As the summer wore on, the father and son held themselves with more confidence and pride, and their laundered painting clothes grew as colorful as confetti from drips and drabs of paint." Many years later, Sharon Darrow awoke dreaming of a girls face, her serious eyes half-covered by long bangs, and the heroine of THE PAINTERS OF LEXIEVILLE was born. The author of THROUGH THE TEMPESTS DARK AND WILD: A STORY OF MARY SHELLEY, CREATOR OF FRANKENSTEIN, illustrated by Angela Barrett, Sharon Darrow teaches in Vermont Colleges M.F.A. in Writing for Children program. She has three daughters and lives in Chicago.