Crossing The Lines by Amanda Huggins

 

Crossing the Lines by Amanda Huggins.

Published 30th November 2021 by Victorina Press.

From the cover of the book:

When Sherman Rook walks into the Jupiter diner, Mollie’s mama is instantly smitten. Despite her daughter’s reluctance, they leave the New Jersey shore behind and move to his isolated farmstead over a thousand miles west. 

Fifteen-year-old Mollie distracts herself from Rook’s cruelty and abuse by befriending a stray dog she names Hal, but when Rook crosses a final line Mollie realises that sometimes we must leave behind those we love in order to save ourselves. 

With only $20 to her name, she sets out from Oakridge Farm, relying on luck and the kindness of strangers as she makes her way back home across five state lines.

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Molly loves living by the Jersey Shore, even if her life is tinged with sadness following the break-up of her family. Her mama's constant search for a man to take the place of Molly's father only seems to result in a string of dead-end, transient relationships that make her unhappy, but at least Molly has the constant presence of the ocean to give her comfort.

But then Sherman Rook walks into the diner where Molly's mama works and beguiles her with talk of rolling acres of farmland out west, and a fancy home she can call her own if she will only agree to settle down with him. Molly is disturbed by Sherman: something about him troubles her, and she is dismayed by the prospect of moving away from her beloved ocean into the unknown. Despite her misgivings, her mother is smitten, so at fifteen Molly finds her life turned upside-down as they make the move to Sherman's isolated farmhouse over a thousand miles away from the coast.

Sherman, unsurprisingly, turns out to be not quite the eligible catch Molly's mama hoped. Oakridge Farm is run down, the countryside an alien expanse of dry red dust, and Sherman himself is controlling and violent. Molly and her mother are confined to the property, while Sherman entertains himself elsewhere, and when he returns his behaviour is erratic and abusive. Molly's mother seems incapable of making a stand for herself, or her daughter, making both their lives a misery. Molly's only solace is the friendship she has made with a stray dog she has named Hal.

When Sherman's roving eye turns towards Molly, she knows the time has come to leave, even if it means leaving her mama behind. With only $20 to her name, and a few personal possessions, she sets out to make her way across five state lines, back to the Jersey Shore she loves so well.

Crossing the Lines is a beautifully written, atmospheric novella that expands on the short story Red that Amanda Huggins first published in her excellent anthology Scratched Enamel Heart. In these pages, Huggins tells us more about what brought Molly to Oakridge Farm, and takes her story forward as she makes the decision to follow her heart back to the Jersey Shore.

What follows is an emotional tale that weaves Molly's story with those of the people she meets on her journey. Inevitably, Molly encounters those who wish to take advantage of her, or do her harm, but is it the moments of the kindness of strangers and their reasons for helping her that make this book so heartwarming. The way Huggins touches on their own grief and regrets, making you understand what leads them to connect with Molly's plight is so moving - especially in the case of the ones who find a way to move past their own sorrows by helping her.

This is a story set in late 1970's USA, and you cannot fail to be aware of that from the cleverly incorporated cultural inferences, particularly the way Huggins uses musical references, but there is also something so timeless about this novella which I found enchanting. I also have to say that the way Huggins evokes the feel of a classic American road trip adventure in Molly's story, linking the snippets of the journey she chooses to tell into one seamless whole, is very impressive. I very much enjoyed how she brings to life both the stifling feel of a heartland as far away from the ocean as possible, and contrasts it so well with the essence of refreshing freedom that draws Molly back to her coastal home. Huggins always writes so magnificently about the pull of the sea in her work, and it makes my heart sing. 

It's easy to assume that such a story will be one of coming-of-age, much like Huggins' previous novella All Our Squandered Beauty (my review HERE), but this really is a different kind of beast, showcasing another side of her skills as a writer. Molly does encounter many people whose influence is controlling and corrosive, and she acknowledges her own sins freely as she ponders the formative episodes of her short life during her journey, but for me this is a tale of love and family ties, of belonging and acceptance, that is infused with artlessness, hope, and innocence - making it almost the antithesis of the classic coming-of-age story. 

This is another winner from Amanda Huggins, and I look forward to seeing where her fertile imagination takes her next. I highly recommend a 'road trip' through her back catalogue too dear readers... you won't be disappointed!

Crossing the Lines is available to buy now in beautiful paperback (with french flaps, dear readers!) and ebook formats.

Thank you to Victorina Press for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author: 

Amanda Huggins is the author of All Our Squandered Beauty which won the 2021 Saboteur Award for Best Novella, as well as four collections of short stories and poetry. Her fiction and travel writing have won numerous prizes, and Crossing the Lines is based on ‘Red’ which was a runner-up in the 2018 Costa Short Story Award.