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The relentless rains of early 2020 seem
a perfect match for the dismal tone and set-
ting of Melissa Anne Peterson’s powerful
debut novel, “Vera Violet.”
The novel fi rst appeared nearly a decade
ago under the title “Jimmy James Blood.”
The book, which was originally self-pub-
lished, tells the story of an impoverished
small town in Washington state.
Peterson comes from a small town
as well; she is a native from Shelton,
Washington.
Now, after further nurturing by writing
teachers and colleagues at Olympic Col-
lege’s Shelton campus and The Evergreen
State College, Peterson has republished the
novel. Local librarians and novelist Jona-
than Evison also helped champion Peter-
son during the republishing process.
The republished novel brings with it a
new title and an established publisher.
“Vera Violet” takes place in a log-
ging town where the working class folks
fi nd themselves getting left behind. Even
those who take pride in their self-suffi -
ciency cannot compete with the hand being
dealt to them from the land beyond the for-
ests: federal mandates, opportunistic outsid-
ers and a changing world.
But as traditional opportunities dry up,
pernicious ventures arise; marijuana grow-
ing and meth labs. This is the new reality
that the young people in town learn to nav-
igate, especially for those who live on Cota
Street, where the railroad runs in behind
fl imsy houses.
That’s where Violet grows up, and
everyone can see the handwriting on the
wall.
“None of us Cota kids would be remem-
bered in history books. The tidewater mill
was silent. The polluted harbor was lifeless.
... The future was covered by a thick blan-
ket of fog.”
Told primarily in the fi rst person from
Violet’s point of view, sentences are crafted
as descriptive but intentionally monotone
statements – bleak, accepting of futility,
This Week’s Book
“Vera Violet” By Melissa Anne Peterson
Counterpoint Press — 256 pp — $16.95
numb to brutality, and bereft of imagina-
tion, save for the specters that haunt one’s
dreams.
Violet’s mother walks away from it all.
Her big sister does, too. Her brother takes
to selling meth to support his girlfriend and
their baby. And her dad, increasingly irrel-
evant to his family, resorts to the life of an
embittered hermit.
But Violet – at least at fi rst – has some-
thing to stay for. She loves Jimmy James
Blood, and he loves her. They are both
fi erce, both fi ghters, and they understand
one another.
But the drugs and the alcohol, the easy
access to guns, and the town’s soul-crush-
ing paucity are a toxic combination. Vio-
lence erupts. Blame is assigned, sometimes
in error, and consequences are brutal.
“We were somehow always wrong,”
Violet says, “It was our own fault. The vio-
lence continued. Young girls kept conceiv-
ing life. The babies ended up struggling
along with the rest of us.”
Even when Violet gets into her rusty
Ford and tries to drive far away to escape
her hometown, its senseless tragedies are
carved permanently on her heart. And she
discovers that the new place where she
lands has its own brand of hopelessness.
This book contains some mystifying
transitions, and a few signifi cant relation-
ships are revealed late in the game.
But in the way incessant rainfall can be
a mesmerizing and devastating force, “Vera
Violet” is too.
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd
McMichael, who writes this weekly column
focusing on the books, authors and publish-
ers of the Pacifi c Northwest. Contact her at
bkmonger@nwlink.com.