โ Scribed by Sara Paretsky
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Set in the Kaw River Valley where Paretsky grew up, Bleeding Kansas
is the story of the Schapens and the Grelliers, two farm families whose
histories have been entwined since the 1850s, when their ancestors
settled the valley as antislavery emigrants.
Today, the Schapen
family, terrified by the lawlessness of the 1970s-when Lawrence was the
most violent college town in the nation-has turned to that old-time
religion for security. The Schapens keep a close eye on all their
neighbors, most especially the Grelliers. They maintain careful track of
everyone's misdeeds, printing the most egregious on their family
website. When Gina Haring, a Wiccan, moves into an empty farmhouse and
starts practicing pagan rites, the family members are so outraged that
they begin an active harassment campaign against the Wiccans.
The Schapens worry, too, about who stands better with the Lord: their
family or the Grelliers. When a Schapen cow gives birth to what may be a
"Perfect Red Heifer"-needed if the temple is ever rebuilt in
Jerusalem-the Schapens feel convinced that God is indeed smiling on
them.
Despite parental cautions, the Grelliers' teenagers are
enraged by the Schapens. All their short lives, they and the young
Schapens have fought. One particularly angry confrontation causes Chip
Grellier to be expelled from school and consequentlyto join the army.
Chip's death in Iraq is the catalyzing event for momentous changes in
the lives of not only both the Schapens and the Grelliers but of all the
families in the valley. The powerful, climactic scene at Gina Haring's
Samhain bonfire will forever haunt the reader.
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