Get free shipping for every purchased of over $70 
Title: Rate
Author: Donna Gene Stankey
Co-Authored by: Ramona Hammel
ISBN: 978-1956742350
Pages: 378
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Rate, by Donna Gene Stankey, is an absorbing tale that is the first of a three-part series of the Setterington saga covering the years from 1893 to about 1916. Based on true events, the text follows one family in the rich farmlands of the Midwest.
The story begins on the 18th of December, 1893 as readers are introduceed to Milly, the Patriarch of a young family whose wife Miney had just delivered a boy, Ralph ‘Rate’ Horatio. Miney, before giving birth, had hoped for another daughter, sentiments she shared with their four-year-old daughter, Blanche. Milly on the other hand was excited at having a son to carry on the family name and to help out with the farm work.
He hoped to raise his family just as his Ma and Pa did, a constant cause of friction between him and his wife, who felt he inordinately idolized his parents along with their opinion. As the two parents begin a new chapter with the arrival of their son, they are both obliged to adjust to new familial duties and approaches as their children grow. Thus begins a tale of parenthood, friendship, love, self-discovery, new beginnings, and loss.
A lush debut novel imbued with impressive, lyrical prose, Donna delivers a compelling saga that is steeped in the tempo and shadows of farm life in Michigan on the cusp of progression. Donna certainly knows this land intimately, from the sparkling drift of the sugar-fine snow to the gusting wind that occasionally blows furiously from the Northwest. With an unmistakable gift for vivid description and imagery that is a huge concoction of the novel, she manages to convey the raw, irrepressible vitality of a family trying to live within their means and the changes that mark their lives.
The characters’ origins are constituted well in conversation, wherein inflections are present and included authentically. With candor and firm precision, the Southern turns of phrases and slang result in additional background. Occasions of dithering and heavy pauses further enhance the dialogue, as when Milly constantly pauses as his wife shares her fazed view of their son’s antics.
Indeed, Rate by Donna Gene Stankey is a heartfelt read that throws to the beat of the turn of a century. It is certainly a welcome addition to its genre and a great start to a series.