by Kelly Pickerill
Jayne Anne Phillips will be signing copies of her latest book, Lark and Termite, at Lemuria Wednesday, March 11th, at five o’clock. Phillips’ first book in nine years, Lark and Termite is a stunning novel that revolves around the title characters, Lark, a young woman who is beginning to find her place in the world, and Termite, her autistic brother. They live with their aunt in a rundown West Virginia town where regular flooding seems to be the biggest source of excitement, but where ghosts and secrets from the past are seething just under the surface of things.
The novel’s events span four days in July in the 1950s, and each day is shared by the voices of the characters. Phillips even invites the reader into Termite’s mind, and this is where her writing really shines–through Termite’s eyes the world is simultaneously sharpened and submerged underwater. From the first chapter you will be drawn into all of the characters’ inner worlds, where you will find that though disappointment is pervasive, somehow an abundance of hope has been allotted to them as well.
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