Atmospheric and beautifully-written tale

• Book: Telling Sonny
• Location: Vermont
• Author: Elizabeth Gauffreau

Review Author: Carol LaHines

It’s 1925, and 19-year-old Faby is living in Enosburg, Vermont with her close-knit French family, Maman Aurore, Papa, Mémère, and sister Josephine, when the vaudeville show comes to town. Faby is entranced by the performers and Slim White, otherwise known as Louis Kittell, in particular. They marry after Faby finds herself pregnant, embarking on rail journeys along the eastern seaboard and the Delmar circuit, from Scranton to Far Rockaway to Buffalo to Norfolk. The novel is replete with details of historical vaudeville performances, the Atlantic City boardwalk, and curiosities such as the infant incubator exhibit. As their journey and the pregnancy progresses, the guileless Faby finds her husband – and life – aren’t quite what they seem. The scenes of pregnancy and birth are visceral and moving, as Faby’s son arrives “mottled and wet on the bed between her feet, tethered to her body by a kinked cord.” Faby’s memories of her ill-fated early marriage are stirred by their son’s approaching wedding day. There is a wonderful reversal at the end, when it turns out it is Faby’s son who has something to tell her.

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