Fiddleblack Press

216 pages, $14.00

Review by Denton Loving

Charles Dodd White returns to the fictional landscape of Sanction County in his new novel, A Shelter of Others.  Like his previous publications (the novel Lambs of Men and the story collection Sinners of Sanction County), White masterfully depicts the dark, inner lives of broken characters.

A Shelter of Others centers on Mason Laws, just released from two years in prison for trafficking pills; Mason’s father, Sam, an aging, former college professor; and Mason’s wife, Lavada, who has cared for Sam during Mason’s incarceration.  Mason is only begrudgingly grateful for Lavada’s care of his father.  More so, he’s hurt and angry that she never visited him even once during his time in prison.  When he’s released, he doesn’t let Lavada know.  Instead, he ekes out a thin life on an abandoned timber camp until he finds a job at a run-down, one-room store near the college where Sam used to teach.  Continue reading →