Remember small town life during the sixties and seventies? Remember the angst-ridden family and coming-of-age stories by people like Anne Rivers Siddons and Pat Conroy? Recently I spoke with a new southern author from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Susan Zurenda gives us “Bells for Eli” (Mercer University Press, 2020). Her tale reads like a young woman’s diary. It’s the poignant story of first cousins, Delia and Eli, who live across the street from each other and are best friends. They go through elementary and high school together and remain very close even as their lives diverge during their college years. Each cousin feels the need to protect and nurture the other.
The pivotal point in their story concerns a horrific accident with the very young Eli: he mistakenly drinks from a Coke bottle that contains lye. You can imagine the damage that results. Poor Eli barely survives but suffers from the after-effects his entire life. His father (whose carelessness caused the accident) sinks further and further into alcoholism; his mother becomes reclusive and depressed.
Delia is Eli’s biggest defender through their childhood and adolescence. Even during their young adult years, when Delia starts regarding Eli as normal, the residual effects are with him in ways she can’t see or understand. Eli begins living the life of a nothing-to-lose frat boy, partying like there’s no tomorrow. I can’t say more without giving things away, but it is this push-pull dynamic of the cousins’ relationship that propels all the action in both their lives and leads to a shocking conclusion and a surprise at the end.
Since all fiction has at least a smidgen of autobiography at its core (think Hemingway’s ambulance driving during WW I, or Pat Conroy’s time at the Citadel), it’s always enlightening to learn about the writer’s personal life. Luckily for me I got the opportunity to communicate with this author. Zurenda tells me that the story is based on fact. A cousin of hers actually drank Red Devil Lye at two years of age, and she grew up hearing about the awful aftermath and how it changed everything for him. Her imagination took over from there. She says that about 20% of Eli’s story comes from this incident.
After reading any thought-provoking story, I always have the urge to ask tons of questions. What do you want the reader to take away? What do you hope the reader will gain from you? Of course I rarely get to ask! But this time I took advantage of the opportunity. Zurenda says she hopes her reader will “consider the irony of fate … how it can take with one hand and give with the other … how boundless love can ultimately triumph in a world where cruelty and pain threaten to dominate.”
“Bells for Eli” is a novel that asks a lot of its reader and gives a lot in return. It’s definitely worth your time. You can find copies at Story on the Square bookstore in McDonough, or go to www.susanzurenda.com for more information. Happy reading!
Kaye West retired from the Henry County Library System. She enjoys reading, taking daily walks, and spending time with friends. She lives in McDonough with her husband.
