Carol Smallwood

Lily's Odyssey Carol Smallwood

This psychological detective novel explores the once largely unacknowledged-not only soldiers get post-traumatic stress disorder: that child abuse whether it is overt or covert incest, is a time bomb. Lily's Odyssey unfolds with the inevitability, impact, and resolution of an ancient Greek play. The dialogue rings true, the journey conveyed with moods and half-tones, to portray fragmented Midwestern characters with poignancy. From child to grandmother, Lily's voyage is told with lyricism, humor, and irony through a poet's voice to distill American life in religion, marriage, and family. A contemporary odyssey without maps by a woman short listed for the 2009 Eric Hoffer Award for Best New Writing, a National Federation of State Poetry Societies Award Winner.