A Man Called Smith

A battle-scarred father. A disillusioned daughter. Can a grieving widower rebuild his splintered family to find peace at last?

South Dakota, 1949. WWII veteran John Smith longs for the life he lost after the tragic death of his wife during childbirth. But in the desperation to provide for his two small children, he is manipulated into an unsuitable marriage by a young woman with a dark neurosis. Tormented by his own grief and the ravages of war, John is blind to his children's turmoil and pain.

Washington State, 1964. John's sixteen-year-old daughter Calla dreams of a life beyond her vindictive stepmother. Forced to care for her younger siblings with a list of household demands larger than she is tall, Calla knows it's only a matter of time until she can escape the abuse and begin anew at college. But her dreams crumble when her heartless stepmother claims the college fund for her own selfish purposes.

As John fears he is too late to stop the war within his home, Calla vows to build a new life worth living.

Can John survive the consequences of war on the home front? Can Calla find the strength to rediscover the meaning of family?

A Man Called Smith is the heartwarming and heart wrenching conclusion to a gripping historical fiction series following the life of John Smith. If you like courageous characters and narratives told over multiple generations, then you'll love Tanya E. Williams' emotional tale.

Title: A Man Called Smith

Author: Tanya E. Williams

Paperback: 320 pages

Publication Date: 08/12/2019

Publisher: Rippling Effects

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1989144047

ISBN-13: 978-1989144046

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My Review

Incredibly moving...

Sometimes, quiet waters are deep. As little as I read family sagas (rarely in the last few years), I gave this a try having in mind the idea to change up my reading and clean my palate between other genres. Never did I anticipate falling so deeply invested in this novel as it pulled me completely under in the best of ways - a novel to forget time and everything around.

The saga begins in the year 1949 in South Dakota and follows John Smith, a WWII veteran and his small children Calla and Jarred with a cast of more family members that join in shortly after the beginning. Their beautiful family unit was shattered after the death of John's first wife from complications of Scarlet fever in her youth, soon after giving birth to Jarred and John is coping with the loss and responsibilities of caring for a toddler and an infant.

Mostly told from the perspective of John and in parts from Calla in later chapters, he is a man who doesn't believe in war as it solves nothing and he has sworn to never fight again. As we get to know him throughout the novel, it is easy to see he is a good-natured man, hard-working, and of good moral upbringing. Though he was still young when he married, his love for his wife was pure and certain and he will struggle with the loss of her throughout his entire life and many chapters in this book.

Perhaps it was the loneliness, perhaps it was the need for companionship or that of a physical nature, but John is starting to see Bernice at some point, a woman that has had a rather complicated upbringing, devoid of a loving family. When she becomes pregnant, John does the honorable thing to marry her. Bernice is nothing like his first wife and John knows that. He gives her ample time to adjust and their new family takes shape as they add three boys to his first two children. Calla is the only girl in the family and steps up to help her new mother wherever she can.

No one can replace the loss of the special person in John's, Calla's, and Jarred's life and when Bernice begins to show flawed behavior in just about every area of life, John keeps his course, focuses on work, and lets the changes happen. As it turns out, the consequences of his non-confrontational nature are deadly and create more loss and hardship for the family.

Very sad, we witness Bernice in her full form of terror over years of raising Calla and Jarred as well as her own three boys with indifference and disgust, as she is unfit a mother and has a hate for all the good and family in John's life. A product of her own childhood trauma, she has turned into a negligent, bitter, and spiteful person...one that lets it out on her own children and hates John's first wife and children with vigor. Her misery is the cause to make everyone else's life a misery justified in her mind. Something she will never admit.

Calla is the sweetest girl and resembles her mother's happy nature and has the same blue eyes. A constant reminder to all that she carries a special place in John's heart and this spurs Bernice's hate even more of the girl. Calla has to do all the chores and cooking in the house since she was little. Calla later goes to school, takes care of her younger siblings, and has a job and aspirations to go to college. A dream, unfortunately, that has been snuffed by Bernice who does not see her mount up to anything.

As the family is falling apart, John, somehow, always finds a way to reason with the situation and does not put his foot down. After Bernice does something terrible, he is persuaded by her to move to Washington State to build a house and start new. A fresh start!

Things don't go all well, but time rolls on, and the family settles in. This is where the story will take on new heights of disaster and the product of living as a broken family begins to show its teeth. This is the point where I will not divulge more information as I don't want to spoil you the experience of reading about the tragic events that follow and how broken hearts deserve to be mended if ever there is to be peace.

A story of love and loss guided by the choices the characters made in life. Even the most honorable of persons will learn a lesson or two in this beautiful and heart-wrenching tale. Something to ponder over...

The characters in this story are both familiar and loved/hated by me as I draw reference to persons in my own life that I know, but I also found myself at a loss with Bernice. I have known just a few people like this and it is infuriating. It is hard to watch/read how a person will take pleasure in taking advantage of others to right their own insecurities, grrr.

John was just too good of a character and I know people like this too. His love for his children was found in the subtle gestures of care and not in long proclamations of love. His work ethic and constant need to provide for his family was his way, the only way he knew, of showing his love the best he could. A typical flaw of good men, unfortunately.

I was surprised at Calla's resolve at some point in the story when she was still High School age. As a witness and victim of the play instigated by her stepmother, she has developed a keen eye and takes action. I commend her for pulling that through.

In all, I was so positively surprised over this novel and I fell for it right at the beginning. Williams's writing glides over the pages like wisps of wheat that sway to a gentle breeze, velvety smooth and mesmerizing. Her portrayal of the characters, flawed and otherwise, feels organic and intuitive, very poignant, and simply amazing. I could get lost in that writing any day!

If you enjoy novels with all the feels and value amazing writing, even if you don't read family sagas, as I don't either much, give this one a try. It is superb!

Happy reading!