BOOK REVIEW: Heavy Wait, A Strange Tale by Sloan Bashinksy

PublishAmerica (2006)

www.amazon.com, paper and kindle, [also available in Spanish]

Mostly I read for entertainment—lightweight stories soon forgotten. Occasionally I stumble on a heavyweight—my first novel was “Hatter’s Castle” by A. J. Cronin. Read at aged twelve when I was still reading the “Famous Five” and “In the Fourth at Mallory Towers”—it was an epiphany in that, for the first time, I was introduced to realistic fiction and imperfect families. Last night I finished reading another literary heavyweight: “Heavy Wait” by Sloan Bashinsky.

At the start of the novel a visionary mystic and his lover, wife and kindred spirit win $ 14,000, 000. Winning the lottery might seem like a dream come true, but this pair has eschewed materialism. The windfall tests each partner’s dedication to their beliefs.

Riley Strange, a pre-eminent lawyer invariably wins legal arguments, but he can’t bring Mary-Lou round to his way of thinking. On the way back from collecting her winnings, she is killed in motor vehicle accident, leaving Riley with inconsolable grief and $ 14,000,000.

Cast out of his personal paradise, Riley spends time in the wilderness before meeting Willa Sue, a despondent, overweight woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mary-Lou. They strike a bargain: Willa Sue agrees to live in Riley’s home for twelve months, and halve her body weight. In return Riley promises to gift her the winnings, all fourteen million. Tempting eh? But is it wise to go off with a strange man, especially one who believes he’s God?

“Heavy Wait” is a deep and engaging book about the spiritual awakening of a damaged young woman who has the great good fortune to meet an angel, overcomes evil and finds true love—we all should be as lucky!