The Book Of Essie

The Book Of Essie

Adult fiction
"On the day I turn seventeen, there is a meeting to decide
whether I should have the baby or if sneaking me to a clinic is worth
the PR risk. I am not invited, which is just as well since my being
there might imply that I have some choice in the matter and I know
that I have none. I listen in, though, the way Lissa and I used to
before she went away..."
I think anyone reading the first paragraph of Meghen Maclean
Weir's The Book Of Essie can figure out that Essie isn't your run-of-
the-mill teenage girl. Underage pregnancies tend to confront families
with challenges to face and decisions to make. The PR risk, however,
usually doesn't enter into their calculations. Esther has grown up on
camera as a member of Six for Hicks, an evengelical tv show. For her
family, especially her mother, image is everything. Neither an
abortion nor an out-of-wedlock pregnancy would fit in with their
carefully curated image.
"Mom looks up, startled. She's actually holding that woman's
hands. Their hands are intertwined across the table and I can tell
that Mom's been crying. Not Pastor Hicks's wife, though. I'll bet
she never sheds a tear without capturing the moment to milk it for all
it's worth."
Roarke goes to school with Essie. His family attends the Hicks'
church. They're peripheral, back row members. But Roarke may be the
means of Essie and her family's image salvation. His parents are
deeply in debt and in danger or losing their business. If Roarke will
marry Essie (on camera, of course) his family will attain financial
solvency and more and he will be able to attend the expensive college
of his dreams.
"When I see that Essie has finished talking I shift forward in
my seat and ask the only sort of hard hitting question I am allowed:
'But as a teenager, as a normal teenage girl, you must sometimes wish
you could get away from the cameras even just once in awhile and let
loose, maybe go a little wild.'
Essie's upbeat expression fades and suddenly she looks pale and
older than her seventeen years.
'It doesn't do any good to wish for things you'll never have.'"
Liberty is a journalist who works for a conservative television
station. She's quite accustomed to covering the Hicks family's
perfectly scripted media events. But all that's about to change.
Essie requests a cell phone her parents won't check. If Liberty can
help her covertly, Essie will repay her with a series of exclusives.
The Book Of Essie is a spellbinding narrative told in their
alternating voices. At least one of them may not be eager to
participate in the cover up. And the perfect holier-than-thou tv
family may have a major skeleton in their closet.
On a purrrsonal note, Friends of the Orono Public Library had a book
sale Saturday. They had a big room filled with tables of books all
organized by genre. I spent 4 hours walking around downtown Orono and
the farmers' market in my unicorn costume encouraging everyone to
check out the book sale. It was a delightful autumn day and the
foliage and the downtown flowers were so beautiful. Such a refreshing
study break. And I'm up to 106 1/2 volunteer hours for the year.
As we edge on up to Halloween the rain in my heart and soul match the
weather outside. Just last year Joey and I had a fine time handing
out goodies in costume. The thought of doing that without the best
little cat in the world seems unbearable. But I can't come up with an
alternate. The campus activities are beyond bus hours.
Great big shout outs go out to Friends of the Orono Public Library for
earning money for important programs and the best little cat in the
world without whom even Halloween isn't magic.
jules hathaway


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