Author Bio:
Bestselling author, Kathleen Shoop, holds a PhD in reading education and has more than 20 years of experience in the classroom. She writes historical fiction, women’s fiction and romance. Shoop’s novels have garnered various awards in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), Eric Hoffer Book Awards, Indie Excellence Awards, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Readers’ Favorite and the San Francisco Book Festival. Kathleen has been featured in USA Today and the Writer’s Guide to 2013. Her work has appeared in The Tribune-Review, four Chicken Soup for the Soul books and Pittsburgh Parent magazine. Kathleen coordinates Mindful Writing Retreats and is a regular presenter at conferences for writers. She lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. For more information, visit www.kshoop.com and www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Shoop-359762600734147/
Book Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3xY9uRU
Editorial Review:
He would’ve sworn in court he was running toward his youth, breaking some sort of time barrier.
I must admit, from the very beginning of this novel, the very first opening scene, I could not put this down until I finished. In a nod to novels like The Notebook and Water for Elephants, Ms Shoop goes over and beyond in this stunning novel about Patryk Rusek, starting with his Nike-clad naked bolt from the nursing home as he rushed towards his hoped-for freedom and praying his great-grandson, Owen, is waiting for him at the prearranged ‘pick-up spot’. With Ms Shoop’s incredibly vivid descriptions and luxuriant prose, you find yourself standing side by side with Patryk, even after his towel goes flying, leaving him exposed to the world and his family who see him dashing through the woods.
But time, age, and family are not in his favour, and he is returned to the nursing home to ‘the stench of antiseptic’ swelling ‘as Nurse Vera bent near while a sewage odour from the guy next to him competed for real estate in the room and won.’ All except for his great-grandson whose friendship and interest in his great-grandfather’s life lures him into recounting the tales of his childhood while ruminating over his chronicle of Donora Pennsylvania in 1920.
After this powerful introduction, Patryck’s musings take the reader back in time, to the story of Stan Musial, the beloved baseball hall of famer, and the life of Stan’s mom and dad during the harsh times of the time period, especially for Polish immigrants striving to make a life in the steel mills of Pennsylvania. Mary and Lukasz Musial vow to have another child after four previous attempts and four daughters now running around like doorsteps beneath their mother’s feet. Lukasz is desperate for a son, and when Stanislaw Musial is born under the lucky signs in the sky and the prediction of an extraordinary life by the midwife, Mary is sure everything will change for the better in the Musial household. As a babe, his mother gifts him with his very first baseball, which he grips his tiny fingers and admires with wide eyes.
Stan’s star does rise as he grows older, getting the attention from some high-ranking professionals – coaches and scouts looking for baseball talent, and from the press looking for the next ‘star’. But by the 30s, the Great Depression hits everyone, and Stan’s father, Lukasz suffers after he is injured at the mill, his “American Dream’ fading into oblivion, and the mills close due to the economic hardships facing America – hardships that tighten a grip around everyone in the family.
Yet, even in the midst of all this, Stan has a choice to make, and his choices pit him against those around him and he fears disappointing them all – his coaches, teachers, girlfriend, and most of all, his family. But destiny has already said he would have an extraordinary life, he just has to go in that direction, no matter the risk.
The depiction of a poor family in the midst of the coal mining region of Pennsylvania and the steel mills during the Great Depression, and the desires connecting all humans – that of wanting a better life for you and your family is portrayed with such incredible emotion and captivating passages – page after page... my eyes soaked up each and every detail and entwined my heart with this family as if they were my next door neighbour. No, not neighbour... as if they were my own family. Ms Shoop managed to develop these characters into reality, full flesh, bones, and blood and emotions which surged from the page and into my veins as if I had a needle in my arm and her words flowed from a bag hanging over my head full of nourishing hydrating water. Refreshing and compelling.
And it is a story about overcoming hardships and the beauty in having someone behind you who has your back, supporting you, believing in you despite any obstacle. Stan had that in his mom and in some incredible friendships despite his father’s malcontent attitude toward the game and disappointment in the son he was desperate to have.
I’m not one for baseball stories as a rule, but after this one (and the other one ‘The Strongman and the Mermaid” of which I also reviewed) I am a die-hard fan of Ms Shoop’s stories. I mean, I should be a fan, after all the Braves just won the World Series, and I do enjoy sitting in a stadium eating a hot dog, drinking a beer, and ‘chopping’ with my arm while the game is played. This book renewed my interest in the game along with the current win of our local team, so the history behind this man, Stan Musial, was incredibly interesting and utterly addictive as I can now say that this book will be one that I will read again and again. A permanent place in my library!
And not only do you fall in love with Stan, but you fall in love with the tight bond shared between Patryck and his great-grandson as the story binds them together. I cannot express enough how much I adored this book (and the other one), so I am going to let a few of my favourite passages lure you into reading this book and adding Ms Shoop to the list of legendary historical fiction authors who could give us all a lesson in Historical Fiction 101.
The two of them had conned him into visiting an old friend and then left him to fend for himself in the blasted old folks’ home. A farm for adults. Put out to pasture, to prod and lasso him toward death. There was no life here, just the undercurrent of it.
Like honey dripped and swirled into hot tea, Stashu permeated their lives.
Their hands that shook and grabbed tighter, but not for angry reasons. Stashu didn’t like that, the sad softness in them when their faces crinkled and tears dropped like someone pumped a well behind their eyes in order to keep them coming. He felt lost when the moms went sad-soft instead of laughing-soft. Even plain hard was better than the sad-soft.
*****
Bases loaded, a pitch, and a hit... home run, Ms Shoop, home run!! Five stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the “Highly Recommended” Award.
Read more of Kathleen's Donora Series books:
Great review and a wonderful author!