THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY AUDREY KNOTH
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
CINDY BONNER is a national treasure.
She has a rare talent for bringing American history alive in the form of can't-put-it-down novels set in 19th century Texas. Her books magically marry historical detail and great storytelling.
``The Passion of Dellie O'Barr'' is the third in what has become known as the ``McDade Cycle,'' a name drawn from the small eastern Texas town in which all of the works have been set. While ``Dellie O'Barr'' involves some of the same characters of the previous two books, it's not necessary to read them to enjoy this one.
At the opening of the tale, the 20-year-old Dellie has been married for two years to Daniel O'Barr, 12 years her senior. He's well-educated, cordial and rather reserved.
Dellie's youngest years were spent on a small farm where her widowed father made a subsistence living. After her father married one of the wealthiest women in town, Dellie moved into a bigger house and received a finishing-school education. In wedding Daniel, a hard-working man whose family is among McDade's more affluent, Dellie has improved her circumstances even more.
But Dellie has begun to chafe at what she feels is a lack of passion in her life. She has also started wondering if her marriage is a love match or a business partnership engineered by her father and her husband.
Two things happen that set Dellie on the course of trying to find an identity beyond that of dutiful daughter and wife. Her strong-willed father dies, and Dellie meets Andy Ashland, the tenant in her family's old farmhouse, at a town picnic. She's fascinated when Andy begins to preach to the crowd from a platform:
``It was Populism Mr. Ashland was preaching. . . . He said the farmer, the common man, was drowning in a sea of poverty, beholding to the merchant, the ginner, to the Wall Street man with his swagger stick and his patent-leather spats. . . . I can't say what it was that made me feel so interested to hear what he said. I had never known a person who could get up in front of a crowd that way and tell them things that made them shout out their agreement.''
Andy is eking out a living as a farmer, trying to support his two small children. His wife has long been confined to an asylum. When Andy invites Dellie to a Populist meeting, she can't resist going. Soon, she is shocking her husband, and all of McDade, by writing for the Populist newspaper that Andy helps publish.
In truth, Dellie is much less interested in the cause that Andy preaches than in Andy himself. ``After a while, I hardly listened to what he said, but simply sat there admiring the lilt of his voice, and cut of his jaw, the breadth of his hands.'' Ultimately, they begin an affair that has disastrous consequences.
To tell more of the story would be unfair. This book is such a page-turner that readers should discover Dellie's adventure for themselves.
What's so remarkable about Bonner's writing is that not only can she spin a mesmerizing yarn, but she can also weave in the small details of a century ago in a way that makes the era seem human and real - something that very few writers are able to accomplish.
An example is ``the cottonseed falling out from under the skirt of a lady three seats over . . . leaking silent and steady from her homemade bustle onto the floor behind her'' that Dellie notices at one of her Populist meetings. Bonner's many word-portraits keenly evoke time and place.
``The McDade Cycle'' stems from Bonner's love of Texas history. She has based all three novels on newspaper accounts from the time, as well as on other research. In crafting captivating stories that also educate readers about America's past, she sparks interest in our nation's history. MEMO: Audrey Knoth is a free-lance writer and executive director of public
relations at Goldman & Associates in Norfolk.
BOOK REVIEW
``The Passion of Dellie O'Barr''
Author: Cindy Bonner
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. 353 pp.
Price: $18.95 by CNB