When Angels Rest - Hardcover

The children of Stay More, Arkansas, play war games during World War II, but when soldiers preparing for an invasion of Japan occupy the hills, the real war reaches closer to home and the village takes on a new appearance

By turns comic, sad, and violent, Donald Haringtons tenth novel is a masterful work, part American tall tale, part hillbilly Paradiso.. During World War II, real news is a rare commodity in the hamlet of Stay More, Arkansas. But twelve-year-old Dawny--inspired by his hero Ernie Pyle--finds enough local color to keep the townsfolk reading his weekly newspaper, the Stay Morning Star. Yet when soldiers come to occupy the remote hills of Stay More in training for an invasion of Japan, the worlds war is brought closer to home, and the texture of rural life is irrevocably changed. Real news is a rare commodity in Stay More, Arkansas, but twelve-year-old Dawny--inspired by his hero Ernie Pyle--finds enough local color to keep the townsfolk reading his weekly newspaper, The Stay Morning Star. One fixture of the paper is Dawnys regular report on the war between the Allies and the Axis, two roving bands of boys and girls whose fledgling identities are reflections of the global battles of World War II. Fighting with sticks and spears, and competing in scrap drives and verbal jousts, the children who call themselves Japs and Nazis know their true enemies to be the Allies, who are also the town bullies: Sog Alan, Larry Duckworth, and John Witter. But the tenor of these games changes as developments bring the worlds war closer to home: the crackle of the towns first radio delivers bad news on a daily basis, and a native son dies on Iwo Jima. For the first time ever, an airplane darkens the skies over Stay More, and soldiers occupy the isolated hills in training for an invasion of Japan. As the ways of outsiders seep into the tiny hamlets routines, the texture of rural life is irrevocably changed.By turns comic, sad, and violent, When Angels Rest is a masterful work, part American tall tale, part hillbilly Paradiso.