Publisher's Synopsis
It is largely perceived to be a calm island in a restless sea of corn and beans, a place of refuge for travelers weary of their dull, monotonous drive across flyover country, hungry for a funnel cake from Fat Pat Norton's Café and some good old-fashioned Midwestern hospitality. Some-most, in fact-would go so far as to label it "Heaven on Earth." But how could a mere passerby come to understand the true nature-the secret nature-of the little city of Orwell, Illinois, unless he or she decided after the funnel cake and the dose of hospitality that it was all right to stick around long enough for the Earth to complete a full ellipse around the sun? Just about every small town has its fair share of secrets-of this fact no one in America would dispute. But in Orwell, the devil prefers to do his work while a giant gold angelic banner billows in the breeze overhead, blanketing the town with a false, famous sense of peace while chaos reigns behind the scenes. Detailed carefully in these exposing pages are twelve separate accounts taken from each month out of the year that act as damning evidence of this-a habitual gambler with the gift of prophecy is paid an unexpected visit at his chocolate shop on a rainy night, a mysterious force leads a troubled teenager to take his friends to a faraway lake of black water under the guise of a camping trip, an old woman handing out more than candy to trick-or-treaters starts a deadly chain reaction on Halloween night, and a bitter family feud stirs the departed soul of a uniquely benevolent woman. In Full Ellipse, Evan Stalter returns to the town whose peaceful façade he breached with his debut novel, The Divine Beauty. Here is a literary symphony of twelve movements that will succeed in tantalizing you into discovering Orwell for yourself.
