"SUNDAY'S CHILD"

By Tom Lewis
VP Publishing, LLC
287 pages
$14.95

One would think that one thirty eight year long career would be enough, or in this case, more than enough for anyone. New Bern's Tom Lewis, the author of the book under discussion today, had a distinguished career of that length as a symphony orchestra conductor, both here in America and also in Europe. Not content to rest on his laurels Mr. Lewis decided a second career would be in order and so embarked in a very successful new direction, a writing career, producing both short stories and novels.

This is the first Tom Lewis book that this reviewer has read and it is a remarkable story indeed. It begins in the closing days of World War I and ends in the closing days of World War II, capturing with precision that brief era of a peaceful time. Firmly entrenched during those years, especially in the South, the Jim Crow laws play a large and often discouraging part in the plotting of this novel. However this story is not one of wallowing in self pity or dispair, rather it is a tale of people on the Outer Banks of North Carolina living, learning and loving, even as their lives are under constant threat from the storms that can sweep across the vulnerable low lying islands.

Working hard at their training for the business of saving lives, are the men of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station. These men, all black, ever on lonely alert, train constantly for the time when their lookout will see a distress flare and they will have to brave the surly surf and howling wind to try to rescue whoever is on board the vessel in distress. Incidentally, alas, Pea Island does not exist any more. The ocean currents that carved this island as a separate entity from Hatteras Island has capriciously filled in the channel, restoring its connection.

The crew of the Lifesaving Station have been doing their own cooking. When a stranger appears and offers to both cook and clean up the men eagerly hire him. Slick Everette, for that is the cooks name, has a cloudy background. He has been a prize fighter and can box with the best fighters in the world but cannot swim a lick. When he goes to the mainland for a monumental bender he fathers a child with a white prostitute. Basically, this story is about that child, a girl that is brought to the Life Saving Sation and becomes Sunday's child.

However the biological father does not long tarry and it is left to the men of the Life Saving Station to raise her. And a good job they do.

In those times between the wars the Outer Banks people had to do everything for themselves. They were their own doctors, nurses, carpenters and boat builders. They were proud of their multiple skills and fiercely independent.

The arrival of a Civilian Conservation Corps on Pea Island brings with it a handful of happiness and a hat full of hurt. While Sunday Everette, for that is what the Life Saving Crew has named her, finds her first romance with one of the young men from the CCC camp, she also suffers shame and heartbreak and in her depths of misery, wreaks havoc with her revenge.

While on the surface this may seem to be a simple novel we become increasingly aware of depths and nuances embedded in the plot as the tale unfolds. How does a girl raised by a bunch of men, however well meaning, learn to be a woman? How does she learn social skills and how does she acquire the knowledge of society at large that will enable her to make her way in this often bewildering world? Lewis answers these questions, and many others that this reviewer never considered, with a deft hand. It is obvious from the outset that this is a well researched story. There is much with which I was familiar, but there was much, much more that was new to me.

This well crafted story, however, provides more than a history lesson. As Sunday Everette matures, and the world that the Pea Islanders thought would last forever is in its final days, the story hurtles at full throttle into a startling climax. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say there are two climaxes. One climax has its origin in Sunday's own past. It is both brutal and scary. The second climax has its foundations deep in the events of the closing days of the second World War. Each of these endings provides a fitting cap to this story.

This book, Sunday's Child is listed on its cover as the first volume of a trilogy. It is going to be difficult for Mr. Lewis to top this opening volume. I wish him luck, he deserves it. A fascinating story and a good read.

Ken Gruebel's book reviews appear in the Sun Journal every other Sunday.

(This review appeared in the Sun Journal edtion July 2, 2006)