Willy Slater's Lane

Nothing much happens in Mitch Wieland's quiet novel, Willy Slater's Lane, and yet by the end, old lives have ended and new ones begun. The main characters, Harlan Kern and his gentle brother Erban, have spent most of their 60-odd years living together in the house left to them by their parents. They are the last residents on Willy Slater's Lane. Over the years, other farmers have moved, a coal mine has stripped the land, and the house itself has fallen into such disrepair that the living room literally falls in. Yet Harlan, Erban, and Harlan's embittered wife, Elizabeth, stay on until a violent confrontation changes everything.

The first half of Willy Slater's Lane is compelling, due in great part to the angry, antisocial Harlan and to Elizabeth, a desperate woman with unexpected stores of both strength and tenderness. The novel loses power with the departure of these two midway through the story, but Mr. Wieland's simple, elegant writing remains strong and steady throughout, making this little book a pleasure to read.