While there are no white picket fences at The Palms, Ronnie stands out as a model neighbor, keeping what little he has pristine. They are connected geographically by The Palms trailer park in Pensacola, Florida-a place inhabited by the downtrodden.
Ronnie, a Vietnam vet who served thirty years for murder, lost his wife and daughter while in prison, becomes both a father to Mary and an ally to Clara. Clara is a meth-addicted prostitute battling addiction and years of abuse but is seeking redemption. Mary is a precocious seven-year-old girl who is largely neglected by her mother, Clara, and way too wise in the ways of the world, yet finds a father figure in ex-con, Ronnie. Look for an interview between Clay Anderson and myself next week followed by a guest blog by Anderson on the Grit Lit genre.Īn unlikely union of the rejected come together in Clay Anderson’s novel, The Palms, to form a dysfunctional family that simply works. Anderson’s The Palms has also been nominated for Georgia Author of the Year under the first novel category. I’m pleased that Clay has continued in a tradition that I so greatly admire and that in my opinion needs more voices. He shared a William Gay book with me that summer and I discovered a compatriot of Grit Lit-a genre I had to explain to a New York agent this past summer while describing my own novel. I met Clay Anderson through the Etowah Valley MFA Creative Writing program at Reinhardt University where he is a current student and where he also teaches history. He lives in the mountains of North Georgia with his two dogs.Grit Lit Part I: Review of The Palms, a Novel by Clay Anderson He is currently an MFA student in Creative Writing at Reinhardt University.
He received his BA in History from Kennesaw State University and MA from Mississippi State University. Clara is reluctant to the friendship at first but soon realizes Ronnie is the only man she’s ever known who didn’t want her just for drugs or sex.Ĭlay Anderson is an Adjunct Professor of History at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia. In Mary, Ronnie finds the daughter he never got to raise.
The Palms weaves the stories and points-of-view of Ronnie, Clara, and Mary as they form a blended family and try to build a new existence. Daily life for Ronnie changes when he befriends Mary, the seven-year-old girl who lives next door with her mother, Clara, a drug-addicted prostitute. He lives in a run-down trailer park outside Pensacola, Florida, and busies himself by maintaining his trailer-it’s the nicest in the park-and never being late for work. Sixty-eight-year-old Ronnie Wells has recently been paroled for a murder he committed thirty-six years before.
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