Some
authors have the talent to produce a novel, or at least a short novel, about a
fairly unremarkable life. Such is the case here. Zorrie
Underwood’s life begins with an unfortunate childhood in Indiana, followed by a
job in which she and her co-workers routinely ingest radium while painting
glow-in-the-dark clock faces during the Great Depression. Fortunately, she stays only a few months at
the clock factory and does odd jobs to get by until she marries a farmer. Hers is the type of rural life in which
tragedy and misfortune are commonplace, but it is not as sorrowful a story as
you might imagine. On the other hand,
bliss and passion to be in short supply.
Zorrie is a hard worker who earns the respect of her community but,
after her husband’s death, yearns for a close connection like the one she had
with her two co-workers, Janie and Marie, at the clock factory. Her integrity is unquestionable, but she is
not perfect, and she pays dearly for her mistakes and misunderstandings. Her story flows gently, with a few bumps in
the road, so that even her early adventures feel pretty tame, due to the tone
of the book. This is neither an
adventure story nor a sob story, but it’s a story that reminds us how everyday
lives are full of tales worth telling.