Marva Cope, the fourth novel in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas Series, brings new elements to the story of the small town in the Texas Panhandle.
Marva arrives as the new postmaster in 2017. She brings with her a lifetime of hesitancy to open herself to others. It is here, while living with her elder Aunt Violet, that she comes to appreciate the value of true friendships. With new relationships, long walks, and conversations with herself, she comes to terms with her difficult past…the loss of a beloved teenaged brother in a tragic farm accident, her father’s death from a broken heart, and a distant mother who had no love for the young teenager.
Troubled teenage years followed as a flawed young man lures her to New Mexico, then left her alone with their newborn daughter. With her newfound courage of trusting others as friends, she reconnects with her daughter and a college dorm-mate she had deserted in years past. In Jackson’s Pond, she finds the ability to consider what to do with the rest of her life.
Marva Cope by Teddy Jones is a story that hit close to my heart. Personally, my main family was not the best and thankfully, I had aunts that were there for me over the years, as well as a grandmother. But overall, it has been friendships that have helped me grow and sustained me. Set in the Texas Panhandle with part of the story being in New Mexico, Marva Cope is a story about a woman who discovers her strengths and weaknesses by living her life as best as she can. Plus, it is a story that truly shows how friendships transcend years and can rebuild instantly with one phone call.
Teddy is a fantabulous storyteller. That storytelling gift flies off the pages with Marva Cope. While the setting descriptions are placid in Marva Cope this time around, the story in this book deeply envelops you into the characters where the settings are thrown into the background.
Marva can be any one of us women – we try something new, make mistakes along the way, and learn from those missteps. The best part of Marva as a character is that she is highly relatable, yet so down to earth.
Seriously, the only flaw in this story was that Marva left behind Bullet who had saved her life. Then yet again she needed to save her own and her daughter’s. Plus, I wished for a few more details about one of the accidents regarding one of the character’s and his later life.
Teddy’s storytelling writing shines in Marva Cope. This story radiates as a reason why women need friends at all stages of their lives. If you are a seeker of fantabulous storytelling set around women, then Marva Cope should be on your TBR. Even though this book is part of the Jackson Pond series, this story can be a completely stand-alone book.
At the end of the book, what this story made me long for even more is having more wine and beer with friends and raiding fridges for unprepared meals. Friendships make us all stronger. Marva Cope shows us that…
Teddy Jones is the author of five published novels, as well as a collection of short stories. Her short fiction received the Gold Medal First Prize in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2015. Jackson’s Pond, Texas was a finalist for the 2014 Willa Award in contemporary fiction from Women Writing the West. Her novel, Making It Home, was a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2017 and A Good Family (not yet unpublished) was named finalist in that contest in 2018.
Although her fiction tends to be set in West Texas, her characters’ lives embody issues not bounded by geography of any particular region. Families and loners; communities in flux; people struggling, others successful; some folks satisfied in solitude and others yearning for connection populate her work. And they all have in common that they are more human than otherwise.
Jones grew up in a small Texas town, Iowa Park. Earlier she worked as a nurse, a nurse educator, a nursing college administrator, and as a nurse practitioner in Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. For the past twenty years, she and her husband have lived in the rural West Texas Panhandle where he farms and she writes.
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03/08/23 |
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03/09/23 |
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03/09/23 |
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03/11/23 |
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03/12/23 |
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03/15/23 |
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03/16/23 |
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thanks for your review. This sounds like such a great story of finding one self and moving forward with it.
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Yes, it is. 💙
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Terrific review! Love a book that makes you feel like you belong with the character and that their struggles and victories are your own. Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to read this.
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Thank you! You’re welcome.
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