Reckless driver

the long version

Lana Franklin is the younger daughter of the increasingly unbalanced Floyd and the escape-seeking Ruth. In rural 1960s Indiana, life is bleak and unpromising for the Franklin family. When Ruth decides to cut her losses, essentially abandoning both husband and children, Floyd's frustration and rage become focused on his daughters. Told in Lana's piercingly honest and lyrical voice, giving heartbreaking poignancy to the brutal realities closing in around her, Reckless Driver takes the form of haunting vignettes as beautifully shaped as poems. They chart the disintegration of a family, one man's descent into madness, and a child's desperate striving to survive a harsh and barren human landscape. Juxtaposed with Lana's aching innocence and painful experience are occasional passages narrated from her father's perspective. They render with unsparing yet compassionate clarity the inner struggle of a child abuser. Reckless Driver is a novel that grows in power as it builds to its dramatic conclusion. The effect is cumulative and indelible. No one who reads it will ever forget this remarkable novel.