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First Published:
Apr 2001, 352 pages
Paperback:
May 2002, 480 pages
Settle back and enjoy the heartwarming story of the Jones family, who meet life's incredible challenges with bravery, humor, and zest in The Edge Of Town - set in the Midwest in the 1920s.
Dorothy Garlock's novels have won her acclaim from the Chicago Sun-Times as a "gifted storyteller" and praise from readers as a truth teller about America and its people. Now in her hardcover debut, the USA Today bestselling author begins her new saga of the Midwest in the 1920s with the heartwarming story of the Jones family, who meet life's incredible challenges with bravery, humor, and zest... THE EDGE OF TOWN
Julie Jones knows what she is: a country girl, not beautiful but presentable, in skirts too long to be fashionable. A responsible young woman who has been raising her brothers and sisters since her mother's death and helping her father on their hardscrabble farm. She's not exactly the free, giggly flapper the town boys fancy. Secretly, she wishes someone she could love would find her special enough to come courting.
But as the country roars into the Jazz Age, neither her family nor the town of Fertile, Missouri, can remain untouched. Veterans have returned from the Great War, among them big, quiet Evan Johnson, the enigmatic son of the town bully. Crime has risen enough to warrant the town's hiring Corbin Appleby as police chief, a stranger on a man-hunt of his own. And, via the train from points south, comes flirty Birdie Stuart, looking for a new man to take care of her.
Before the summer fades into golden autumn, tensions explode. A series of rapes sends fear rippling through the town, and Birdie's schemes threaten to tear Julie's family apart. Then Evan Johnson, who has been trying to win Julie's heart, is suddenly charged with murder.
Chapter 1
Fertile, Missouri
July 1922
LILLIAN RUSSELL'S DIED!" Jill made the dramatic announcement and waited for her sister to comment. When Julie continued to wash the dishes and drop them in the rinse pan, she said, "All the wonderful women in the world are dying. First Nellie Bly and now Lillian."
"Where did you hear that?"
"Ruby May told me last night. Lillian was so beautiful, so elegant. All the men loved her." Jill lifted her arms in a circling motion. "I'm going to be just like her."
"You'll have to grow some," Julie said dryly. "She had quite a bosom. They were out to here." Julie held her cupped, wet hands out six inches from her slender body.
"And a tiny waist."
"Helped by a tight corset."
"She was beautiful--"
"And old enough to be your grandma. Dry the dishes while you're grieving for her."
Jill took a plate from the hot rinse water, dried it and set it on the table.
"The men who gave her diamonds must have liked ...
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