What readers think of The Caretaker, plus links to write your own review.

WHO is the author of this book? Hmmm…never heard of him until now. In the first few pages of this novel, I was totally smitten. So I looked up this "unknown" author and found out the following: Ron Rash has written 20 books, three of which have been on the New York Times bestseller list, and he has won 20 literary awards.

Well, I got schooled, and happily so, since I intend to read a lot more Ron Rash books.

Taking place in 1951, this is a historical novel, love story, and coming of age book—all in one. Jacob Hampton is the only child of the leading citizens of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, Daniel and Cora Hampton. They own the sawmill and the general store. They consistently helped townspeople during the Great Depression, and no one has forgotten their compassion in that difficult time. But Jacob is trying to break free of their many constraints on him. He dropped out of college with the intention of working at the sawmill, and when he came home, he met Naomi Clarke, a 16-year-old from a farm near Pulaski, Tennessee, who was trying to earn some much-needed money by working as a maid at the town's most elegant hotel. Naomi has lived a hardscrabble existence, losing her mother at a young age and forced by her father to drop out of school after the third grade to work on the family farm.

It's love at first sight for Jacob and Naomi, who elope when his parents both refuse to give their blessing and with many cruel words disinherit him. Their marriage is a scandal in this small Appalachian town. And soon enough, Uncle Sam comes calling, sending Jacob to fight in the Korean War. He asks his best buddy, Blackburn Gant, a man whose face was horribly disfigured by polio, to look after Naomi while he is in the Army, knowing Naomi is spurned by most of the townspeople. By the time Jacob ships out, Naomi is pregnant with their baby.

What happens to Jacob in Korea and what happens to those left in Blowing Rock is the gist of this page-turner of a book. How far are we willing to go—even to tell the most horrific lies and mastermind the most evil of deeds—to seemingly save those we love? When will the truth be revealed?

While the twisty plot is very compelling, it is the characters who transform this story from what could have been a quick-to-forget novel to rise to the level of literature.

Best of all, the writing is brilliant. This is a book to be treasured.

The Caretaker is the eighth novel by award-winning, best-selling American poet and author, Ron Rash. The loss of two infant daughters made Cora Hampton overprotective of her only son, Jacob, when he finally came. Cora and Daniel Hampton were people of wealth and influence in Laurel Fork, Watauga County, North Carolina. Daniel inherited the timber mill and together they bought the General Store, but folk said they were hard-working and decent, often helping those worse off.

But Jacob was heartily sick of the way they controlled his life: when he fell for sixteen-year-old Naomi Clarke outside the Yonahlossee cinema in Blowing Rock, and his parents disapproved, they eloped. Daniel’s threat to disinherit his son if they didn’t annul their marriage had no effect. Soon enough, they were proving they could make their own way.

When Jacob was conscripted to fight in Korea, he hoped that the prospect of a grandchild, the baby Naomi was expecting in May, would soften his father’s stance, but was disappointed. Risking his life in Korea was all Naomi’s fault: had he stayed in college, he would have been exempt, Daniel declared. So Jacob turned to his best friend, Blackburn.

Blackburn Gant had been the caretaker at the town’s cemetery since he was sixteen, a job that suited a man with a facial disfigurement that made people uncomfortable. He took good care of Naomi: chores, maintenance of the farmhouse, and company. Then, a certain nasty incident in town, the day before she went home to her Daddy’s farm near Pulaski, Tennessee. But he continued to visit, driving seven hours each way to bring gifts and chat.

The plan that Cora had for her son didn’t include his marrying a poor, uneducated hotel maid, so when the news came by telegram to Laurel Fork that Jacob had been seriously injured and would come home in early June, Cora saw it as an opportunity to bring her beloved son back to the fold. She hatched an audacious plan that relied on Hampton money and influence, threats, blackmail, and quite a number of lies. “There were so many lies to keep straight and more would come. Like a long line of boxcars on a steep grade, just one unhitched could cause disaster.”

Much more can’t be said without spoilers, but Cora’s scheme will have readers’ jaws dropping; it would never work in today’s ultra-connected world but, set in 1951, it requires no suspension of disbelief. Even though some breathtakingly nasty stuff happens, Rash doesn’t populate his novel with evil villains, just ordinary, flawed humans living their lives.

His characters observe: “Learning people were so much more than you thought, wasn’t that also part of no longer being a child?” and “But to love a person enough that you’d want them to love someone else instead of you . . . that’s hard.”
“Maybe it ain’t about having to make a choice which person you love,” Blackburn said. “Maybe a heart’s big enough to hold both.”

Rash challenges his characters realistically, but also gives some of them the insight and wisdom and steadfastness to meet what they must. Blackburn, he especially tests with a strong temptation: does he yield, or does he remain a true friend?

As his fans have come to expect, Rash gives the reader some gorgeous descriptive prose: “This time of day everything grew still, as if the world was holding its breath until the night fell” and “the fog began to unscarf itself” are examples. This is beautifully-written, brilliantly-plotted historical fiction: highly recommended.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Canongate books.

wonderful story...first book I read by this author.. Very emotional and a great ending. It would make a great movie. I recommend this book.