Book Review: *The Coffins of Little Hope* by Timothy Schaffert

• The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Unbridled Books; 1 edition (April 19, 2011)
• ISBN-13: 978-1609530402

Back-of-the-book blurb: Timothy Schaffert has created his most memorable character yet in Essie, an octogenarian obituary writer for her family’s small town newspaper. When a young country girl is reported to be missing, perhaps whisked away by an itinerant aerial photographer, Essie stumbles onto the story of her life. Or, it all could be simply a hoax, or a delusion, the child and child-thief invented from the desperate imagination of a lonely, lovelorn woman. Either way, the story of the girl reaches far and wide, igniting controversy, attracting curiosity-seekers and cult worshippers from all over the country to this dying rural town. And then it is revealed that the long awaited final book of an infamous series of YA gothic novels is being secretly printed on the newspaper’s presses. The Coffins of Little Hope tells a feisty, energetic story of characters caught in the intricately woven webs of myth, legend and deception even as Schaffert explores with his typical exquisite care and sharp eye the fragility of childhood, the strength of family, the powerful rumor mills of rural America, and the sometimes dramatic effects of pop culture on the way we shape our world.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review: Timothy Schaffert’s The Coffins of Little Hope examines both the macro and micro news that capture our attention. The novel is set in a small town in Nebraska where the biggest conduit of news is the County Paragraph. Those of us who’ve lived in small towns understand the type of stories that make big news – scout troop activities, renovations of the local diner, and full articles about golden anniversary parties.  Perhaps the most telling part of these local papers is the obituary section; this is where we truly learn about the deceased – not simply names and dates, but stories that illustrate a trait or habit.

Essie Myles is the obituary writer of the County Paragraph (family-owned for generations, and now under the tutelage of her grandson, Doc).  Now in her eighties, Essie gives the impression that she has been set in her ways since Day One (this, on Page One):

I still use a manual typewriter (a 1953 Underwood portable, in a robin’s-egg blue) because the soft pip-pip-pip of the typing of keys on a computer keyboard doesn’t quite fit with my sense of what writing sounds like.  I need the hard metal clack, and I need those keys to sometimes catch so I can reach in and untangle them, turning my fingers inky.  Without slapping the return or turning the cylinder to release the paper with a sharp whip, without all that minor havoc, I feel I’ve paid no respect to the dead.  What good is an obituary if it can be written so peaceably, so undisturbingly, in the dark of night?

Though my name does not begin with an S, my byline has always been S Myles because I’m Esther, but more often Essie, or Ess, and thus S (just S, no period) on the page.

Some might say Essie is eccentric for her unusual habits (she’s partial to walking around her house at night completely naked, or clad in a vintage silk kimono), but she’s no more unusual than any of the other wonderful characters in The Coffins of Little Hope.  From Essie’s own family (Doc, his niece Tiffany – who Doc has raised for the past seven or so years, Ivy – Tiff’s mother, recently back from her life in Paris and wanting to rekindle her maternal flame), to residents and visitors to the town, Schaffert offers fine details to make personalities and proclivities of each player come alive.  We see them them all through Essie’s eyes; she’s the docent guiding us to her perspective of these realistic portraits.

Two news items capture the attention of the town and beyond.  One begins within – Lenore, a young girl of about eight years, is reported missing by her mother.  The mother, Daisy, claims the Lenore was abducted by Daisy’s itinerant boyfriend, and aerial photographer by the name of Elvis.  Eyebrows are raised, but concern doesn’t dim when the townspeople realize they’ve never seen Lenore, and there’s no evidence of her existence – no photographs of her short childhood, no memorabilia or collection of her ‘treasures.’  Does Lenore exist?  Regardless, this is big news for a small town; when the national news gets the story, a cult-like following of Lenorians descends on the town, which “recognized [its] need for notoriety.”

The second news item is a nation-wide (strong enough to be world-wide, actually) obsession with a series of Young Adult novels about Miranda and Desiree, two sisters living at Rothgutt’s Asylum for Misguided Girls.  The eleventh (and final) book in the series will be published soon, and rumors and speculation abound.  As Essie observes:

Even if you had never read a word of the Miranda-and-Desirees, it was impossible not to be versed in the language of the books, and their characters and places, and to be curious about how it might all end.

If the Harry Potter phenomenon comes to mind, I think you’re on the right track.  This obsession with pop culture, with living inside a fictional world is something Schaffert wants the reader to consider – how can a novel sink itself into us so thoroughly, while a real-life missing child story fades when there’s “no new news” after a while?

Another strong theme is that of family, the roles we play in them, and the needs they meet.  The linear relationships between Essie, Doc, and Tiffany would form a spiderweb pattern on a family tree (Essie is Doc’s grandmother; Doc is Tiffany’s uncle), yet they are a family of two households.  When Ivy returns, eager to pick up parenting Tiffany where she left off, the transition isn’t a smooth one.

And what of Daisy, and her possibly phantom daughter Lenore?  Did/does Lenore exist?  Does Daisy need a daughter to nurture, or does she simply want the attention that Lenore’s disappearance brings?  Did the Miranda-and-Desiree novels influence her actions?

S Myles wonders the same thing, and Timothy Schaffert brings us on that journey of discovery with her.