DANCING IN CADILLAC LIGHT

Moon, Texas, in 1968: the year that 11-year-old Jaynell’s widowed Grandpap moves in. Fearing that he is becoming senile, Jaynell is instructed to keep an eye on Grandpap at all times. She does so with pleasure because it represents both a thrilling invitation to spy and an opportunity to be with her beloved grandfather. Before Grandpap dies (midway through the book), he buys a ’62 Cadillac and teaches Jaynell the rudiments of driving. He also gives his own home to the destitute Pickens family whose father, not unlike Grandpap, is overcoming alcoholism. The setup proceeds at a pace as leisurely as Grandpap’s rounds in his Cadillac, meandering gently through issues of gender, class, alcoholism, and family secrets. Subtle narrative tension threads through the story’s second half as Jaynell’s family argues over Grandpap’s “estate.” Jaynell, the only one who knows that Grandpap intended the Pickens family to have his home, resents the loss of the “homeplace.” Bitterness prevents Jaynell from revealing Grandpap’s intentions when the relatives talk about evicting the Pickenses; a tragedy forces her to reveal the truth. This is bustlingly peopled with colorful, often funny characters. Not all are as interestingly complex as Jaynell’s quiet mother who is coping with her husband’s ’60s-era paternalism and her family’s greed in a tentative but definite way. As always, the author has a reliable grasp on time and place. If the thematic connections are sometimes tenuous, to Holt’s credit the few highly dramatic incidents are not used to manipulate either plot or readers. While this is inherently nostalgic and tenderhearted, it never becomes maudlin and it will be welcomed by fans of Holt’s 1999 National Book Award–winning When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. (Fiction. 9-12)