Where the Heart Is (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Author | Billie Letts |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Sceptre |
| Released | 17 August 1995 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 368 p. (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-340-64698-5 (paperback edition) |
- For other uses, see Where the Heart Is.
Where the Heart Is is a novel by Billie Letts, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club® selection in December of 1998.
[edit] Plot introduction
"Where the Heart Is" follows the lives of Novalee Nation, Willy Jack Pickens, and their daughter Americus Nation for a period of seven years in the 1980s and early 1990s.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel opens with Novalee and Willy Jack traveling from Tennessee to California. At the time, Novalee is seventeen and seven months pregnant.
Novalee convinces Willy Jack to stop at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, so she can use the restroom and pick up a pair of sandals, as hers were lost when they fell through the floor of the beat up car in which they are traveling.
When Novalee comes out of the Wal-Mart, she realizes Willy Jack has left her with nothing more than her beach bag and $7.77, the change from her purchase.
With nowhere else to go, Novalee spends the afternoon at the Wal-Mart and meets three people who will play important roles in her life:
Sister Husband, a kind, spunky, woman who runs the towns "Welcome Wagon". Sister Husband has a deep faith, and hands out chapters of the Bible to people she meets. When they first meet, Sister Husband mistakes Novalee for a girl named Ruth Ann Mott, and gives Novalee a Welcome Wagon basket. Sister Husband also tells Novalee she's welcome to visit her house any time.
Moses Whitecotton, a photographer who shoots portraits at the Wal-Mart. Moses tells Novalee to give her baby a name "that will mean something", a name that will "withstand a lot of bad times", as well as a photo album.
Benny Goodluck, a Native American and the son of the owner of Goodluck Nursery. Benny gives Novalee a buckeye tree, as they are meant to bring good luck.
Novalee spends the night in Wal-Mart and soon establishes a routine that allows her to "live" in the store. She keeps track of anything she eats or wears in a log book, intent on paying Wal-Mart back when she has a job.
When the buckeye tree falls ill, Novalee heads to the library to find a book that will help her save the tree. There she meets Forney Hull. Forney is the brother of the librarian, Mary Elizabeth, and watches over the library because Mary Elizabeth is an alcoholic.
Novalee reconnects with Sister Husband, taking up the offer to visit her house. Novalee plants the buckeye tree in Sister Husband's yard and meets Mr. Sprock, Sister Husband's "gentleman".
Forney and Novalee become close friends, and he learns early on that she lives in the Wal-Mart when he follows her back to the store one night. When Novalee goes into labor in the store, Forney smashes the window and helps Novalee deliver Americus. Forney's heroic actions also turn the media spotlight on Novalee, who receives flowers, cards, money and letters from people throughout the country.
While recovering in the hospital, Novalee meets Lexie Coop, a nurse with four young children. Lexie becomes Novalee's first girl friend in years. Lexie has four children and terrible difficulties with men who always leave her when she becomes pregnant with the next baby.
Novalee is also visited by Sam Walton, the owner of Wal-Mart, who forgives the debt she accumulated while living in the store and offers her a job in the same store. He also gives Novalee $500.
Novalee's mother, Mama Nell, also shows up after seeing Novalee on the news. Mama Nell left Novalee when Novalee was seven, and Novalee grew up in several foster homes. Mama Nell offers to help Novalee raise Americus, and Novalee gives Mama Nell the money she received from Sam Walton and others. Mama Nell takes the money and disappears.
Sister Husband shows up at the hospital and takes Novalee and Americus into her home. The relationship between Novalee and Sister Husband becomes symbolic of the mother-daughter relationship Novalee never had with Mama Nell, and Americus becomes a granddaughter to Sister Husband. While living with Sister Husband, several of the neighbors assist Novalee in raising Americus, and a family of friends is established.
Novalee's story is interwoven with Willy Jack's, who - after leaving Novalee at the Wal-Mart, ends up in jail. While serving time, he meets Claire, the prison librarian. Claire, thinking Willy Jack looks like her late son, takes a liking to him and helps him get a guitar, which he learns to play. Willy Jack also writes a song, "The Beat of a Heart". Willy Jack returns to Nashville and meets Ruth Meyers, an agent. For a brief period of time, Willy Jack has a successful music career as "Billy Shadow".
However, Willy Jack's vices - drinking, drugs, and women - drag his career down, and Claire files suit against Willy Jack. Ruth Meyers drops Willy Jack, and he's left with next to nothing.
At the same time Willy Jack is involved with music, Novalee takes up a pastime of her own. Inspired by Moses Whitecotton, Novalee takes an interest in photography and becomes a skilled artist. She wins the Kodak Greater Southwest award for one of her photographs (a picture of Benny Goodluck running) and travels to New Mexico with Forney, who has developed strong feelings for Novalee.
When a tornado hits the town, Novalee loses not only the Wal-Mart and her home, but Sister Husband. When she learns the Wal-Mart is being rebuilt in a town 50 miles away, Novalee prepares to move, to the dismay of the Whitecottons, Lexie, and Forney. Novalee then learns Sister Husband made her the benefactor and inheritor of her estate, and Novalee uses the money to build a house on the land where Sister Husband's trailer stood.
The relationship between Forney and Novalee changes after Forney's sister dies in a fire that also destroys the library. When Forney doesn't show up for the funeral Novalee goes to the hotel where he's staying (as he lived above the library). When she comforts a tearful Forney, Novalee kisses him and they spend the night together and make love. Forney confesses his love for Novalee, who doesn't say anything in return.
When Forney later asks Novalee if she loves him, Novalee says no because she doesn't want to hold Forney back. In her mind, he is finally free to focus on his own life and finish college as planned years ago before he was forced to drop out and take care of his alcoholic sister.
Forney is heartbroken and leaves town. Novalee and Americus are also heartbroken and Americus has come to see Forney as a father-figure. Forney writes to Americus concerning her schooling & about adding Latin to her curriculum and that he loves and misses her; always ending each letter with, "Tell your mother I send my best."
In the end of the book, Novalee reads a newspaper article that informs her that Willy Jack, Americus' biological father was run over by a train and has no legs. She goes to the hospital to see him and he is shocked that she is there. She is frightened he is going to try to take Americus from her at first. In the end, Willy Jack redeems himself some. He asks Novalee if she remembers asking him to feel the baby and if he could feel it's heart. She had placed his hand on her swollen abdomen... "Can you feel that little bomp, bomp, bomp... she asked?" He tried to pull his hand away and replied, "No." She said, "That's where the heart is."
Novalee tells him she remembers and he tells her that he lied to her about that. He felt his baby's heart and it was the worse lie he has ever told and has haunted him for years.
The book ends with a tearful Novalee with Willy Jack in her car, whom she has forgiven for abandoning her years earlier and she is taking him home to his family. Before she leaves, she hurries to a payphone and calls Forney (she had tracked him down earlier and found that he worked at a book store, but every time he would answer the phone she would never tell him that she was calling and the call would be terminated).
Forney says hello and Novalee finally answers and breaks down in tears, asking him if it's late, please don't let it be too late for them. She made a mistake and lied to him when she told him she didn't love him because she thought she was taking his dreams away from him; holding him back. Forney expresses astonishment that she feels this way and he tells her it is not too late for them.
The end up together in the end of the book, but the novel ends very abruptly at this point.
Lexie had told Novalee earlier in the book that girls like the two of them couldn't expect to get "the pick of the litter." Lexie has a happy ending as well though with a man she describes as "the pick of the litter" because in his previous relationship, his girlfriend Max left him and didn't want their baby son or her own little girl from a previous relationship and literally trades her daughter for this man's red mustang.
Lexie is finally convinced their is a good man out there for her and knowing he is a good man and father, she marries him near the end of the book.
