Peeling back family secrets
Revival Season by Monica West, Simon & Schuster, $26 [2021]
Reading Revival Season by Monica West may feel like peeling an onion’s layers and cutting into the core of the Horton family’s past and present secrets. Each chapter reveals a stronger and more complex part of the members’ hidden past.
Thirteen-year-old Miriam, the Hortons’ oldest child, tells the story. Her dad, Samuel, is a Baptist minister who spends each summer driving his family on a circuit through southern towns where he delivers sermons and heals the afflicted. The summers go smoothly until Miriam sees her father commit a violent act that not only shocks her but also isolates her from her mother and younger brother. Her solace is caring for Hannah, her younger sister who has ALS.
As Miriam struggles to rationalize her dad’s behavior, she uncovers not only more secret incidents but also begins to question her family life. What other secrets are there? How can her dad preach one set of rules and live by another? Why hasn’t her dad healed Hannah? What were her parents like before they met? How can she move forward knowing the answers? As she finds answers, she also strains her relationship with her parents.
Miriam’s situation seems impossible to resolve. West, who was born and raised in Cleveland, relied on her own background to finish the book. She’d written 15 different endings before finding the one she felt was best.
It took West eight years to write Revival Season. During that time, she attended three workshops specifically for writing novels and obtained a Master of Fine Arts for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
In writing Revival Season, West did her homework not only in gradually revealing the plot but also in heightening the suspense. She relies on extensive research, her students’ experiences, and visits to the south.
For West, a high school English teacher in Oakland, California, the time spent and the hard work paid off. Not only is Revival Season an interesting read; it is also fodder for probing religious and social discussions. Just like an onion this novel adds flavor to anyone’s reading list and will lead to spicy discussions for book clubs.
This is West’s debut novel; she’s already started her next one. Whether or not it’s a sequel to Revival Season, readers should anticipate it will be just as flavorful.
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