The Virgin of Small Plains: A Novel
by Nancy Pickard
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Book Summary Information
Author: Nancy PickardEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-29
ISBN: 0345471008
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The Virgin of Small Plains: A Novel
Book Review: Putting This on my Keeper Shelf
Summary: 5 Stars
You know it's a good book when, after reading the library's copy, you go out and buy your own. THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLIAINS is that kind of book.
In 1987 Small Plains, Kansas, in the midst of a blizzard, eighteen-year-old Rex Shellenberger searches the pastures of his family farm for newborn calves and finds the naked, frozen body of a teenage girl. That night, Shellenberger's dad--the sheriff--brings the corpse to sixteen-year-old Abby Reynold's father's in-home doctor's office. Hiding in a storage closet in that office, Abby's boyfriend, eighteen-year-old Mitch Newquist witnesses something that causes his father, the town judge, to abruptly send him from town.
Who is the dead girl? What really happened that night?
For seventeen years, the questions go unanswered and the issues unresolved. When Mitch unexpectedly returns to Small Plains, Abby is determined to find the virgin's name and discover exactly what happened that night so many years ago.
Nancy Pickard's characters are believable and their story compelling. Pickard paints such a vivid picture that the reader gets to know the characters' strengths, flaws, motivations and secret wishes. The story kept me turning pages late into the night. You'll find a copy of THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLAINS on my keeper shelf.
Summary of The Virgin of Small Plains: A Novel
Small Plains, Kansas, January 23, 1987: In the midst of a deadly blizzard, eighteen-year-old Rex Shellenberger scours his father?s pasture, looking for helpless newborn calves. Then he makes a shocking discovery: the naked, frozen body of a teenage girl, her skin as white as the snow around her. Even dead, she is the most beautiful girl he?s ever seen. It is a moment that will forever change his life and the lives of everyone around him. The mysterious dead girl?the ?Virgin of Small Plains??inspires local reverence. In the two decades following her death, strange miracles visit those who faithfully tend to her grave; some even believe that her spirit can cure deadly illnesses. Slowly, word of the legend spreads.But what really happened in that snow-covered field? Why did young Mitch Newquist disappear the day after the Virgin?s body was found, leaving behind his distraught girlfriend, Abby Reynolds? Why do the town?s three most powerful men?Dr. Quentin Reynolds, former sheriff Nathan Shellenberger, and Judge, Tom Newquist?all seem to be hiding the details of that night?
Seventeen years later, when Mitch suddenly returns to Small Plains, simmering tensions come to a head, ghosts that had long slumbered whisper anew, and the secrets that some wish would stay buried rise again from the grave of the Virgin. Abby?never having resolved her feelings for Mitch?is now determined to uncover exactly what happened so many years ago to tear their lives apart.
Three families and three friends, their worlds inexorably altered in the course of one night, must confront the ever-unfolding consequences in award-winning author Nancy Pickard?s remarkable novel of suspense. Wonderfully written and utterly absorbing, The Virgin of Small Plains is about the loss of faith, trust, and innocence . . . and the possibility of redemption.
From the Hardcover edition.
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