Ella in Bloom
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REVIEW BY ROBIN SMITH
"It was a myth that people created their own children, the ball-of-clay business. The truth was, children made themselves in reaction to you." I came to a full stop when I read that statement. As a mother, a daughter, a sibling, I realized the raw truth of Shelby Hearon's words. As I read her new novel, Ella in Bloom, I knew I had discovered another favorite author. Ella, being true to her literary namesake Cinderella, lives one life and invents another. She is a single mother to teenage Birdie. They live together in a run-down duplex with a soggy yard in Old Metairie, Louisiana. Ella makes her living watering plants and house sitting. She does the sorts of jobs that rich folks would rather pay others to do. She invents her life through letters to her mother in Texas. She describes a life of leisure, filled with flower arranging, rose breeding, linens and the finer things of life. In these letters, she adopts the breathy, Southern air of the sophisticated socialite who has nothing better to do than pen flowery letters on engraved stationery. She describes a new linen dress, but neglects to tell that the dress was stolen from her employer's upstairs bedroom. Ella fabricates a life her mother might approve. She lies to her mother and lies for her favored sister, Terrell. She covers up for Terrell's affair, even when Terrell dies en route to a romantic rendezvous. This lie eventually leads Ella to the truth. Readers will find much to enjoy in this many-layered book. On one layer, Hearon explores the never-ending quest of the less-favored child for the love of her parents. Another layer explores the role of social class in all our lives. Ella is the girl who is never quite good enough, not even for herself. Since she married young and beneath her station, she spends years trying to gain the acceptance of her mother. She regains some status when her estranged husband, Buddy, dies. Being a widow is much more acceptable than being divorced, she finds. Ella returns home for visits, first for her sister's funeral and then for her mother's birthday photo, and finally to help take care of her father when her mother suffers a stroke. Slowly, Ella blooms into herself. She befriends her sister's husband, Red, and acknowledges the affection and attraction that have always been present. She realizes she is not the only one with lies and secrets. And in realizing the secrets of others, Ella learns to accept the truth. I found myself pulling for Ella as the novel progressed. I wanted her to find happiness in herself. Shelby Hearon knows her characters well. Birdie is Ella's high school-aged daughter who seems incapable of any lie. Her open-eyed honesty serves to ground Ella. Ella's father, the doctor, is a podiatrist who spends most of every day combing medical journals for updates on health and fitness. But Ella's mother is the heart of the story. Her concern for the neighbors' opinions and the rules of society serve to control and stifle the entire family. Even the minor characters Hearon creates are complicated and funny and true. In the end, Ella forgives herself and accepts the truth in herself and in those she loves. Her prince arrives, not with a glass slipper but with the tools she needs: acceptance, honesty, even a hammer and wrench. She won't ever make it to the rich people's ball, but she will enjoy the celebration her life has become. Robin Smith is a teacher in Nashville.
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