The Last Tale of Norah Bow by J.P. White
It’s on the very first page of The Last Tale of Norah Bow by J.P. White. Fourteen-year-old Norah is told by her father that they share a “demon switch,” whatever that is.
Readers don’t have to wait long to find out: The demon switch means she can do hard things that others can’t.
Search for Father — and Answers
In this case, it’s 1926, during Prohibition. Norah lives in Sandusky, Ohio, which as it turns out, is the prime location for rum runners from across the Canadian border. During a night walk along the beach, Norah stumbles into the rum runners, only to recognize her father among them.
No words are spoken. Her love for her father is unwavering. But when three of the rum runners barge into the Bow dinner table a few days later and abduct Norah’s father, one secret is out. Perhaps worse than the secret, her father is whisked off, with no indication he is going to be kept alive.
“Why did three men,” Norah says, “hauling my daddy away with a black bag over his head, make me feel like I was already dead, but never more alive? These men, whoever they were, would not get away with this crime.”
And Norah has the demon switch.
It should come as no surprise, then, when Norah awakes in the middle of the night, gathers supplies, and leaves her mother a simple note: Gone to bring him back.
A Tough Girl and a Savvy Woman
Author J.P. White takes readers on an exciting adventure, a literary gem of hypnotic storytelling lathered with savory and complex characters that open Norah’s eyes to the world and teach her the ways of the world. Not least of which is Ruby, a savvy, battle-tested woman of questionable virtue.
She is described as regarding her body “like a knife in her pocket, wild card in the deck.” Norah finds her in the middle of the night in Lake Erie, laying asleep in a small boat, and seemingly content from her recent act of setting aflame the boat of her most recent adversaries.
As Norah enlists Ruby to help her find her father, the duo traverses the taverns and farmhouses in lower Canada, seeking clues to her father’s whereabouts, using ingenuity and moxie and the occasional ramblings of those they meet.
To help explain Norah’s toughness, at one point she gives an elderly woman some free Canadian Club and cash in exchange for information. When the woman balks, “I grabbed what was left of Miss Kitty’s whiskey, gulped it down, and snatched my ten note back … I needed to show Miss Kitty I was not some schoolgirl.”
The author is no slouch at turning a phrase, often using descriptions and explanations that will make readers feel they are savoring a fine wine.
Crafty, Wise Tale About Truth and Secrets
The Last Tale of Norah Bow is a wonderful work, a coming-of-age story in which White uses all devices at his disposal — an intriguing plot; an uncommon venue and slice of life; creative, likable and seedy characters easy to root for or against; exceptional writing; and a gift to bring it all together into a memorable literary experience.
According to Norah, “Daddy said my fate was like his. To live within reach of the demon switch. For Ruby, fate gathered under the next flap of her wings. Me, I didn’t know how to go back. Didn’t know how to go forward. I was the toy of fate … Maybe Ruby was right. I would learn how to feed on carrion before I would ever fly again.”
So what outcome can we expect from this crafty, wise author? Nothing short of surprises and sensitivities of the highest order, a search for truth in a sea of emotion, recollection and fading memory. How secrets cloud perception.
“The world runs on secrets buried in the ocean of the blood. Each vantage point on the compass depicts one degree of truth, so we may all lay claim that our chosen reading of the past is correct. But nobody tells the whole story.”
About the Author:
J.P. White has published essays, articles, fiction, reviews, interviews, and poetry in over 100 publications, including The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Gettysburg Review, American Poetry Review, and Poetry (Chicago). A highly acclaimed, award-winning writer, White pushes beyond the boundaries of the lyric/narrative tradition to let more of the flux and wonder of the human condition rush in.
He spent his childhood summers sailing on Lake Erie. In the early 1980s, he worked delivering sailboats up and down the Eastern seaboard, to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. He currently sails a Cape Dory 25D out of St. Louis Bay on Lake Minnetonka, near Minneapolis. Visit jpwhitebooks.com.
