MAUD'S HOUSE
Ever want to draw on the walls?
A story of lost-and-found creativity
by Sherry Roberts (author blog)
"We live for momentous sparks. For nanoseconds of invulnerability. But we are loved for the little things, the way we wear green suede cowboy boots, the way we see potential in an old gutted van in a field of trilliums, the way we help a neighbor stack his woodpile." — Maud Calhoun
As a brilliant child artist, Maud Calhoun put Round Corners, Vermont, on the map with paintings that covered every inch of her house. Now, pressured to paint a mural for her small Vermont home town, she searches for the inspiration that has eluded her for fifteen years. With humor and warmth, Maud struggles to reclaim herself and her creative muse as her tightly knit community unravels.
Welcome to Maud's House, where the good struggle is played out by an endearing group of locals and a woman who remembers a time when pictures "trickled from my fingers like blood." There's always beer in the refrigerator and country music on the radio, and everyone is sure to butt into your business.
And if you draw on the walls — maybe just your initials tucked into the corner of the bathroom above the heating vent — no one will care. Everyone in Round Corners knows how it is: how you can have these uncontrollable urges to leave your mark. The problem comes when the muse flies the coop and you're stuck, and sooner or later, everyone in Round Corners becomes stuck.
Creativity lost. It's as ugly as mud season in Vermont.
"Ms. Roberts' talent is evident . . . her novel is lightly salted with folksy, good-humored insights and peppered with a spunky appreciation of life's whimsy."
New York Times Book Review
"The novel's quirky details (amusing chapter headings include "Cows Juggling Pine Cones") and unusual situations bode well for more . . . from this new talent."
Publishers Weekly
"Roberts' easy style and comic sense are engaging . ."
Library Journal
"[Sherry Roberts] has the proper light touch needed to bring the feisty citizens of Round Corners, Vermont, to zestful life. Maud's House is a contemporary rarity: a book that is fun to read."
Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever
"Discovering Sherry Roberts is joy and absolute delight."
Ruth Moose, author of The Wreath Ribbon Quilt
"If there is such a thing as a reflective madcap comedy, Roberts has created one with her novel. Maud's House is a funny and angry comedy - the best kind. And deep in the book's most secret heart, it is about what all great stories are always about: love and sex and death; or to put the same ideas another way: community and need and identity."
Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game and The Lost Boys |
