I've finished the first half of Heaven. I thought a good stopping point is when Heaven is sold by her father to a young couple - The Dennison's - from Atlanta. While reading this book, I wondered if VCA wrote this book, wanting the readers to have sympathy for Heaven and her rough life in the hills of West Virginia? If so, she failed miserably. Personally, I found Heaven too whiny. If I could yell at her and tell her to get it together, I would. Now onto my summary:
Prologue: On the eve of Heaven's 10th birthday, she finds out from her Granny that Sarah really isn't her ma. Granny takes Heaven to a grave. It's the grave of Heaven's mother who died at the age of 14 during childbirth. Granny goes on to tell Heaven the story of how Heaven's mother ran away from home and end up meeting and falling in love with Luke. Apparently, Luke was devastated by the death of his angel and this caused him to completely ignore Heaven. This bit of information gives Heaven some insight as to why her Pa doesn't look at or speak to her. Granny explains how Pa came to be with Sarah shortly after his angel's death. He had cravins, physical cravins. Granny gives Heaven the suitcase her mother was carrying when she arrived in The Willies. The suitcase contained a doll with silvery blond hair wearing a wedding veil. It was Heaven's ma, Luke's angel that was named Leigh.
The book starts with Heaven, a 13 year old girl that lives in abject poverty with her Granny, Grandpa, her 4 siblings (Tom, Fanny, Keith and Our Jane) and her "mother" Sarah. They are poor hill folk. Her Pa, Luke, is in and out of their life. He shows up long enough to deliver food and have sex with Sarah. They don't know where he goes when he leaves but according to Sarah, he rolls out to go to Shirley's Place. Heaven is extremely close with her brother Tom. It could be because they are so close in age. How is that possible? Tom calls her Heavenly (even though her name is Heaven Leigh). Their sister Fanny is a whore in the making. She loves attention, hates Heaven and thinks that the only way to get boys to like her is to go into the closet with them and perform favors. Keith is quiet and I don't think he said more than a sentence in the first half of the book. Our Jane is babied by all because she was born sickly.
The only place where Heaven gets a respite from her poor life is when she goes to school. Everyday Heaven, Tom, Fanny, Keith and Our Jane walk 7 miles to go to school. Heaven and Tom have the same teacher, Miss Deale, who "specializes" in teaching hill folk. Heaven loves Miss Deale. Miss Deale makes sure to encourage their book learning by giving them books to take home and read because she knows that they can't afford to buy any. Things get better for Heaven at school when Tom introduces her to the new boy in school, Logan. His family owns the local drug store so you know he comes from money. Their eyes meet and Logan has fallen head over heels for the girl with the cornflower blue eyes. Wow! That was fast. Of course, Fanny does not like this and does everything to draw attention to herself. Unfortunate for her, Logan only has eyes for Heaven.
Things continue on, business as usual, until Sarah realizes one day that she's knocked up. When she tells Luke, he blows up at her. He gave her birth control pills so why wasn't she taking them? She didn't understand his instructions and took them all at once so she wouldn't forget. Well, that's one way to do it. Luke leaves again to his normal hangout. While he's gone, Sarah prays that she will provide him with a son that looks just like Luke. That will get him to stay. Not! Sarah goes into labor and gives birth - no Luke in sight. But something's wrong with the baby. It's funny looking. OMG! The baby's stillborn. Sarah goes into a tizzy. Granny dies. And Luke finally shows up and drops a bombshell - He has syphilis. His nasty ways killed Sarah's baby. And his Ma! Luke takes off again.
Sarah goes bat-shit crazy and starts mumbling to herself about how she has to get out of here. She needs to leave. And guess what? She does. So now the only adult in the cabin is Grandpa and he can't do anything except sit in his rocker and whittle. Heaven stops going to school so that she can take care of Grandpa and the sickly Our Jane. Fanny uses this as an excuse to not go to school also. Things get rough. Food runs low. It's winter and it's making hunting tough. Keith and Our Jane are whiny and cry because their belly hurts. Oh when is Pa coming back with food? Surely he wouldn't let his kids starve? In the nick of time, Pa shows up with a bag full of food. Our hero! And he's out the door again. He don't want his kids to catch the syphilis.
Pa returns just in time for Christmas Eve. He has a big surprise for his brood. Christmas presents? A winter coat? New shoes? NO! A new family! Ta-dah! Luke figured since he got more kids than he can support, why not sell them off to a family that don't have kids for the bargain price of $500 per child. The first kid to be sold is Our Jane and Keith. You can't break them up; they are a package deal. Heaven is sick with grief as Our Jane cries "Hev-lee!" Heaven hates her father even more and gives him the death stare. Fanny is pissed because she wasn't sold first. She has to get outta here! I should have been first! And Tom can't believe his Pa sold his own kids. Heaven can't believe that Grandpa just sat there and said nothing. Fanny gets her wish. She gets sold to the Reverend and his wife. Next on the block, Tom! He's a sturdy young man who can do go work. Now you go with Buck Henry. Last man standing - Heaven.
Heaven ponders her fate. Now she wishes for Miss Deale or Logan to come to her rescue. Too late now Heaven. Your pride got in the way. You didn't want any help when it was being offered now you are on your own. While Heaven waits for the other shoe to drop, Luke decides that he has the right to touch and feel on Heaven - inappropriately - cause she's from his seed. Yeah...okay. Luckily Grandpa decides to be lucid and stops this. The next day two couples arrive. Heaven has a choice. Which couple to chose. The older staid couple that won't look at her. Or the flashy young couple. Hmmm...who to chose, who to chose. She decides to go with couple #2! Heaven hugs Grandpa, gives Luke another death stare and leaves the raggedy cabin behind. She's now on her way to a better life...or is she?
Stay tuned.....
Prologue: On the eve of Heaven's 10th birthday, she finds out from her Granny that Sarah really isn't her ma. Granny takes Heaven to a grave. It's the grave of Heaven's mother who died at the age of 14 during childbirth. Granny goes on to tell Heaven the story of how Heaven's mother ran away from home and end up meeting and falling in love with Luke. Apparently, Luke was devastated by the death of his angel and this caused him to completely ignore Heaven. This bit of information gives Heaven some insight as to why her Pa doesn't look at or speak to her. Granny explains how Pa came to be with Sarah shortly after his angel's death. He had cravins, physical cravins. Granny gives Heaven the suitcase her mother was carrying when she arrived in The Willies. The suitcase contained a doll with silvery blond hair wearing a wedding veil. It was Heaven's ma, Luke's angel that was named Leigh.
The book starts with Heaven, a 13 year old girl that lives in abject poverty with her Granny, Grandpa, her 4 siblings (Tom, Fanny, Keith and Our Jane) and her "mother" Sarah. They are poor hill folk. Her Pa, Luke, is in and out of their life. He shows up long enough to deliver food and have sex with Sarah. They don't know where he goes when he leaves but according to Sarah, he rolls out to go to Shirley's Place. Heaven is extremely close with her brother Tom. It could be because they are so close in age. How is that possible? Tom calls her Heavenly (even though her name is Heaven Leigh). Their sister Fanny is a whore in the making. She loves attention, hates Heaven and thinks that the only way to get boys to like her is to go into the closet with them and perform favors. Keith is quiet and I don't think he said more than a sentence in the first half of the book. Our Jane is babied by all because she was born sickly.
The only place where Heaven gets a respite from her poor life is when she goes to school. Everyday Heaven, Tom, Fanny, Keith and Our Jane walk 7 miles to go to school. Heaven and Tom have the same teacher, Miss Deale, who "specializes" in teaching hill folk. Heaven loves Miss Deale. Miss Deale makes sure to encourage their book learning by giving them books to take home and read because she knows that they can't afford to buy any. Things get better for Heaven at school when Tom introduces her to the new boy in school, Logan. His family owns the local drug store so you know he comes from money. Their eyes meet and Logan has fallen head over heels for the girl with the cornflower blue eyes. Wow! That was fast. Of course, Fanny does not like this and does everything to draw attention to herself. Unfortunate for her, Logan only has eyes for Heaven.
Things continue on, business as usual, until Sarah realizes one day that she's knocked up. When she tells Luke, he blows up at her. He gave her birth control pills so why wasn't she taking them? She didn't understand his instructions and took them all at once so she wouldn't forget. Well, that's one way to do it. Luke leaves again to his normal hangout. While he's gone, Sarah prays that she will provide him with a son that looks just like Luke. That will get him to stay. Not! Sarah goes into labor and gives birth - no Luke in sight. But something's wrong with the baby. It's funny looking. OMG! The baby's stillborn. Sarah goes into a tizzy. Granny dies. And Luke finally shows up and drops a bombshell - He has syphilis. His nasty ways killed Sarah's baby. And his Ma! Luke takes off again.
Sarah goes bat-shit crazy and starts mumbling to herself about how she has to get out of here. She needs to leave. And guess what? She does. So now the only adult in the cabin is Grandpa and he can't do anything except sit in his rocker and whittle. Heaven stops going to school so that she can take care of Grandpa and the sickly Our Jane. Fanny uses this as an excuse to not go to school also. Things get rough. Food runs low. It's winter and it's making hunting tough. Keith and Our Jane are whiny and cry because their belly hurts. Oh when is Pa coming back with food? Surely he wouldn't let his kids starve? In the nick of time, Pa shows up with a bag full of food. Our hero! And he's out the door again. He don't want his kids to catch the syphilis.
Pa returns just in time for Christmas Eve. He has a big surprise for his brood. Christmas presents? A winter coat? New shoes? NO! A new family! Ta-dah! Luke figured since he got more kids than he can support, why not sell them off to a family that don't have kids for the bargain price of $500 per child. The first kid to be sold is Our Jane and Keith. You can't break them up; they are a package deal. Heaven is sick with grief as Our Jane cries "Hev-lee!" Heaven hates her father even more and gives him the death stare. Fanny is pissed because she wasn't sold first. She has to get outta here! I should have been first! And Tom can't believe his Pa sold his own kids. Heaven can't believe that Grandpa just sat there and said nothing. Fanny gets her wish. She gets sold to the Reverend and his wife. Next on the block, Tom! He's a sturdy young man who can do go work. Now you go with Buck Henry. Last man standing - Heaven.
Heaven ponders her fate. Now she wishes for Miss Deale or Logan to come to her rescue. Too late now Heaven. Your pride got in the way. You didn't want any help when it was being offered now you are on your own. While Heaven waits for the other shoe to drop, Luke decides that he has the right to touch and feel on Heaven - inappropriately - cause she's from his seed. Yeah...okay. Luckily Grandpa decides to be lucid and stops this. The next day two couples arrive. Heaven has a choice. Which couple to chose. The older staid couple that won't look at her. Or the flashy young couple. Hmmm...who to chose, who to chose. She decides to go with couple #2! Heaven hugs Grandpa, gives Luke another death stare and leaves the raggedy cabin behind. She's now on her way to a better life...or is she?
Stay tuned.....
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