THE STOREKEEPER

A grieving widower buys a mom-and-pop store in Whitfield’s novel.

Ralph Johnson, who drove around with his dog, Rusty, for months following the death of his beloved wife, Ruth, of cancer at age 56, purchases a mom-and-pop store in Campbell, a small town in the unspecified American West. He maintains the store’s coffee klatsch of local men and draws out lurking 4-year-old Ruby, who lives in a nearby shack with prickly mother Jessie. Ralph’s niece Gracie arrives for a visit and helps at the store (and with Ruby), becoming romantically involved with Rick, the local school principal. Ralph comes to rely on Bruce, the town’s pastor, and somewhat reluctantly visits a crochety and terminally ill prayer group member, Jane Adams, in a hospital in the larger town of Monroe, where he also meets lovely nurse Domenica. Ralph helps support local pregnant teens, encourages an Adams family reconciliation, and responds when Ruby runs to him when a fire erupts in the shack and the town rallies around all those in need. On New Year’s Eve, there’s a joyful double-wedding celebration, then a shocking tragedy, but by the spring and summer, Ralph and others move on with positive events in their lives. Whitfield has crafted a modern tale showcasing the attractions of small-town life in a similar fashion to Jan Karon’s Mitford series (“Something about the awnings on faded brick buildings was familiar. Or was it the Victorian courthouse? Or the tiny white library building on Main Street?”). While the exact location of this novel’s setting in “the West” remains frustratingly hazy, the author peoples her town with clearly delineated characters who are easy to care about, particularly the protagonist, Ralph, on his journey through grief and making new connections. Whitfield admirably provides this mature character with many dimensions (including sexual ones) and whets readers’ interest for more about Campbell’s intriguing inhabitants, particularly Jessie, a wary former foster child.