Valentine: A Novel (original 2020; edition 2021)

by Elizabeth Wetmore (Author)

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873	55	24,612	(3.99)	39
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML: An instant New York Times Bestseller Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! "A thrilling debut that deserves your attention." �??Ron Charles, the Washington Post Written with the haunting emotional power of Elizabeth Strout and Barbara Kingsolver, an astonishing debut novel that explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the VCU Cabell First Novel Award. Mercy is hard in a place like this . . . It's February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town's men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow. In the early hours of the morning after Valentine's Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead's ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field�??an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences. Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the reader's heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women's strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us ali… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	TrishMcCloy
Title:	Valentine: A Novel
Authors:	Elizabeth Wetmore (Author)
Info:	Harper Perennial (2021), 320 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	Fiction, mystery

Work Information

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore (2020)

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Top Five Books of 2020 (43)

Books Read in 2020 (2,692)

Books Set in Texas (39)

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Cruel and unusual in 1970s Texas. (

)

ben_r47 | Feb 22, 2024 |

This story, which begins with a brutal crime, is set in good-old white boy West Texas in the 1970s, with flashbacks to to earlier decades. This novel took aim at the racist, misogynistic, and patriarchal world that brutalized women and Mexicans, and perpetuated a victim-blaming mentality. The prose was beautiful and the characters were well-drawn and multi-dimensional. (

)

bschweiger | Feb 4, 2024 |

DNF. I was so hopeful for this book. The first few chapters totally had me in it's grips....but then nothing. The further I got into this book the more it was like pulling teeth. I finally made the call to not finish this book. I was just not enjoying it. It was dragging on. (

)

Cheyenna | Jan 4, 2024 |

I was totally immersed in this from page 1. Gorgeously descriptive with characters and stories raw, brutal, and beautiful in their telling. Love the multiple perspectives and focus on the female lens. (

)

Reading_Vicariously | May 22, 2023 |

Probably the most surprising thing about this book is that it is the authors first book. The writing is very strong! The book has a story that runs through the whole book about a teenage girl who is brutally raped, but each chapter is about one of the 4-6 other characters in the book, so it is almost like a series of short stories with the one common element in the background. It would have been nice if the book was more cohesive, but otherwise it is definitely a well written book. (

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zmagic69 | Mar 31, 2023 |

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▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year (Winner – Traditional Fiction – 2020)

Crook's Corner Book Prize (Longlist – 2021)

Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Shortlist – Fiction – 2021)

Friends of American Writers Award (First Place – Adult Literature – 2021)

Philosophical Society of Texas Book Prize (Honorable Mention – Fiction Book – 2020)

Distinctions

Book of the Month Club Selection (April 2020)

Read with Jenna (2020)

Notable Lists

BuzzFeed Best Books (2020)

Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection – 2020)

Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List (Selection – 2021)

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Canonical title

Valentine

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2020

People/Characters

Important places

Texas, USA

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Cummins, Jeanine

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

813.6

Canonical LCC

PS3623.E886

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:

An instant New York Times Bestseller

Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

"A thrilling debut that deserves your attention." �??Ron Charles, the Washington Post

Written with the haunting emotional power of Elizabeth Strout and Barbara Kingsolver, an astonishing debut novel that explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the VCU Cabell First Novel Award.

Mercy is hard in a place like this . . .

It's February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town's men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow.

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine's Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead's ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field�??an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences.

Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the reader's heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women's strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us ali

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Book description

Mercy is hard in a place like this . . .

It’s February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town’s men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow.

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field—an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences.

Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the reader’s heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women’s strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive.

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