Stony Kill: A Novel - Softcover

Brooklyn cafe owner and baker Joss Ryckman was dressed in pink by her mother but called "Paulie-girl" and "Boy-o" by her father, Paul. Now a grown woman, she's still living in the shadow of the hopes and wishes of her parents. When her mother dies, Joss returns to her mother's ancestral home in Cannan, NY, a place haunted by tragedies. She lives the dual life that her mother did 20 years before, traveling between Canaan and Brooklyn. But the men in her life want more from her. Wyatt, a combat veteran who loves her, is fighting to remain by her side even as she pushes him away. She is also pulled back to the city by another in a long series of acts of gun violence by her aging and volatile father. VERDICT Joss's understanding her father's penchant for violence and anger takes a long time to unfold. The book relies heavily on dialog that doesn't always propel the narrative. In the end, this debut author still provides a gripping snapshot of a dysfunctional family torn apart by their own doing.--Susan Santa "Library Journal " Brooklyn cafe owner and baker Joss Ryckman was dressed in pink by her mother but called Paulie-girl and Boy-o by her father, Paul. Now a grown woman, she s still living in the shadow of the hopes and wishes of her parents. When her mother dies, Joss returns to her mother s ancestral home in Cannan, NY, a place haunted by tragedies. She lives the dual life that her mother did 20 years before, traveling between Canaan and Brooklyn. But the men in her life want more from her. Wyatt, a combat veteran who loves her, is fighting to remain by her side even as she pushes him away. She is also pulled back to the city by another in a long series of acts of gun violence by her aging and volatile father. VERDICT Joss s understanding her father s penchant for violence and anger takes a long time to unfold. The book reliesheavily on dialog that doesn t always propel the narrative. In the end, this debut author still provides a gripping snapshot of a dysfunctional familytorn apart by their own doing.--Susan Santa "Library Journal ""

After the sudden death of her mother, Joss Ryckman finds herself running away from everything--the life she did not choose of managing the family bakery in Brooklyn, the troubled relationship with her sometimes violent father, and her conflicts with Wyatt, a lover who always wants more. But when she flees to the country farm of her childhood in upstate New York, will she finally find the truth of dark events in her family's past? Or will all that she has held at bay for twenty years come crashing down? As Joss comes to terms with her loss, she is forced to confront memories of a childhood steeped in both joy and sorrow. As the past seeps in through the rich farmland and the landscape of the treacherous, churning Stony Kill, Piecing together the broken past and her family's dysfunction, the dark secrets of a family submerged in a history of violence and regret begin to take shape, and the reality of two brutal killings can no longer be denied. Joss must make her own choices and, ultimately, let go.Rich with beautiful language and immersed in powerful descriptions of Joss's feelings, Stony Kill tells a powerful story of the heartbreak and suffering from violent acts of a dysfunctional family, and ultimately her hope and choice of a better life.