About the book:

Book title: Rarity from the Hollow

Author: Robert Eggleton

Publication date: March 16th 2012 by Dog Horn Publishing

Blurb:

Lacy Dawn’s father relives the Gulf War, her mother’s teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in the hollow is hard. She has one advantage — an android was inserted into her life and is working with her to cure her parents. But, he wants something in exchange. It’s up to her to save the Universe. Lacy Dawn doesn’t mind saving the universe, but her family and friends come first.

My Review:

This is one of the strangest books I have ever read, not only because of the story, but also because of the names of places end characters. The author presents the story of Lacy Dawn, a girl whose mission is to save the universe.

Being thought by a superior existence, named DotCom, she has to face the rough side of life and takes it upon herself to make life easier for her parents and herself. The story is told through her eyes, starting when she is only 10 years old. As it is also written in the beginning, this is “A children’s story. For adults”. The children in this book have to witness drug abuse, domestic violence, rape and war trauma. With the help of her alien friend, Lacey develops a high capacity of learning and proves to be a lot smarter than her age. With this ability, she’s able to understand all the issues her friends have to face.

Her innocence is also made visible by her friendship with the trees and when she tries to keep the memory of her best friend alive. Every time she wants to get away from the troubles at home, she goes to the forest and speaks to them looking for answers in nature.

What was difficult for me to understand was which was exactly her role in history. I mean understood she was meant to save the universe but the relationship between her existence and our planet’s history is something which I failed to grasp. Also another weird thing was the planet DotCom comes from. I have had a difficult time to follow which character’s thoughts were presented from time to time. Even though 90% of the story depicts Lacy’s thoughts, we are offered glimpses from her parents’ minds or DotCom’s. In my opinion this constant shift of point of views gives me the impression of Chaos.

As a conclusion I do believe this is a book with a strong message, that has to be read especially by parents and that should raise some alarms when it comes to children. We have to do our best to make a better world for them especially. The author has chosen a very powerful character to express his views and for that I can only congratulate Mr. Eggleton.

 

About the Author:

Robert Eggleton has served as a children’s advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known locally for his nonfiction: investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997; nationally distributed models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions; research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next — never finding a permanent loving family; and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency in West Virginia. Dozens of his works have been archived by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

Today, he is a recently retired children’s psychotherapist from a mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia, where he specialized in helping victims cope with and overcome physical and sexual abuse, and other mental health concerns. Two of Eggleton’s poems were published in the 1970s and another won first place in 2015 international poetry competition managed by the WSC Science Fiction & Fantasy Club/WillyCon. His debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow, was named one of five best reads in 2015 by a Codices, has been awarded Gold Medals by Awesome Indies and Readers’ Favorite, and has been so well received by prominent book critics and reviewers that it is scheduled for republication by Dog Horn Publishing, a traditional small press, in 2016. Three of Eggleton’s short stories have appeared in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction.

Author proceeds from Eggleton’s Lacy Dawn Adventures project have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/ Robert continues to write adult literary science fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group therapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment.