Benny & Shrimp
Like it or not, the summer is drawing to a close. But if you鈥檙e hoping to squeeze in at least one more charming book before Labor Day, I have a couple of titles to recommend.
In the case of these two books, however, it鈥檚 probably one or the other and not both. By nature they are most likely to appeal to different constituencies.
The first is Benny & Shrimp, originally written in Swedish by Katarina Mazetti and translated into English by Sarah Death. If the title immediately makes you think of that other Swedish charmer, 鈥淎strid & Veronika鈥� by Linda Olsson, you鈥檙e on the right track. Both are sweet stories about the unexpected warmth that can blossom between two lonely characters.
But for Benny and Desir茅e (Shrimp is his nickname for her, because she鈥檚 鈥減ale, curled around her soft parts, with her shell on the outside鈥�), it鈥檚 more than romance. It鈥檚 the kind of love that some argue comes only once in a lifetime.
And yet it shouldn鈥檛 have come to Benny and Desir茅e. They鈥檙e just too different. Desir茅e is a 30-something urbanite. A librarian, she cherishes books, opera, spare d茅cors, and vegetarianism. Benny, on the other hand, is a farmer. Not the modern kind that stuff their own sausages and do fancy woodwork for their front porches but more your grandmother鈥檚 farmer 鈥� the type that subsist on frozen foods and hang counted cross-stitch in their farmhouses.
By rights this mismatched couple should never have crossed paths. But they do. Both recently bereaved and lonely (her husband was hit by a bus and his beloved mother has passed on) they meet at the cemetery. Although at first they annoy each other, eventually Benny flashes her a smile and what Desir茅e suddenly sees are 鈥渟un and wild strawberries and birds singing and expanses of glittering water.鈥� In short, she is smitten, in a way that she never was with her more urbane husband.
Benny, for his part, thought he was looking for a curvaceous female who might understand a thing or two about the dangers of hoof rot and the rigors of the crop cycle. But instead he discovers that the greyhound-thin Shrimp has a 鈥渄ry, husky laugh鈥� that becomes a reward for which he鈥檒l do 鈥渁lmost anything.鈥�
Genuine as their feelings are, it is evident that Benny and Shrimp鈥檚 romance will not be without its complexities. His unchic social set appalls her and he 鈥渒ick[s] out like a cross cow鈥� when she tries to lead him 鈥渦p the cultural path.鈥� Prepare for trouble ahead. And also be forewarned that 鈥淏enny & Shrimp鈥� plays fast and loose with traditional morality. The ending arrives with rather a jolt, and suffice it to say that if you did not approve of the fourth season of 鈥�Murphy Brown鈥� this probably isn鈥檛 your book. If you like an offbeat love story, however, this one is as sweet and unexpected as the wild strawberries Shrimp glimpses in Benny鈥檚 smile.
The second book is the first in a projected series. Lois Barker is a 30-something single journalist working at a city paper in Dayton, Ohio, when Ed, her best friend at work, suddenly drops dead. To her great surprise, she discovers that he has left her the 鈥淕reen News-Item,鈥� a small-town newspaper in northwest Louisiana. She can sell it 鈥� but only if she first moves to Green and spends a year running it.
It鈥檚 an appealing premise for a novel and Gone to Green by Judy Christie makes an engaging read. (Engaging and nostalgic 鈥� it was pleasant to be reminded that there really was a time when you could make a living by running a newspaper.) While much of 鈥淕one to Green鈥� is predictable (the good ol鈥� boys who run the town turn out to be rotten apples, a sullen-seeming teenager turns into a great kid with lots of potential, and the good-looking catfish farmer down the road proves more interesting than Lois first suspected), it is also warm-hearted and good-natured.
Green is the kind of town where cellphone reception is weak, the town square includes a monument to the boll weevil, and everybody knows your name. The ratio of good people to bad weighs heavily in favor of the good and in some respects 鈥� despite the heat and 鈥渉umisery鈥� 鈥� it鈥檚 the kind of town most of us at least occasionally daydream about inhabiting. But it鈥檚 also riddled with racism and rotten real estate deals and Lois can鈥檛 resist throwing the force of her little newspaper into the fight against them.
In real life, Christie lives in northwest Louisiana and her firsthand knowledge of small towns shows in her writing. She resists the temptation to make the town folk a collection of likable oddballs. Instead, Green is populated by real people with real concerns, who sometimes show the occasional flash of interest in culture and the outside world, even as they attend church socials and support the local Catfish Festival.
Christie describes her fiction style as 鈥渋nspirational,鈥� which means that her characters sometimes pray for answers and occasionally find themselves in church. Lois is a crusader who wants to make her new hometown a better place to live even as she longs to feel sure that there鈥檚 a place for her in God鈥檚 larger plans. You never seriously doubt that she鈥檒l find it.
Does 鈥淕one to Green鈥� have a formulaic feel? It does 鈥� rather like a faith-based Nancy Drew story for adult readers. But that won鈥檛 necessarily stop you from reaching for the next installment.
Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor鈥檚 book editor.
