Author: Cecil L. Milliner

ISBN: 1932657355

The following review was contributed by:  NORM GOLDMAN:  Editor of Bookpleasures. CLICK TO VIEW  Norm Goldman's Reviews   

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Cecil L. Milliner’s novel Willie May Medcalf: A Novel of the Old West takes place in the early nineteenth century centering on Willie May Wooster from Albany, New York, who at the age of seventeen is swept off her feet at her coming out party by the handsome William (Will) Jefferson Medcalf.

Her mother Elizabeth Wooster and her father Judge Charles Wooster were appalled when Willie May runs off with Medcalf and marries him, even though she was underage. Eventually, Will and Willie May wind up on a hardscrabble farm in Kentucky. Will turns out to be not the knight in shinning armor Willie May fathomed him to be but rather a ghastly scoundrel who thinks nothing of beating his wife and their six children.

One day a stranger by the name of Jim Bledsoe passes by the farm seeking work. Apparently, Bledsoe was robbed by river pirates, who stole his flatboat and killed his brother as well as another man and his family. Bledsoe’s bad luck continues to prey on him when Medcalf steals his money belt and rides off with the best horse, deserting his wife and six kids. Everything that possibly could go wrong does and it all seems to be heading towards tragedy like some grand opera. Or does it? Bledsoe remains on the farm as a hired hand and eventually he and Willie May along with the six children make their way to Memphis where they embark on a fresh start.

This is tale about an extraordinary woman with the resilience to overcome a sad beginning in life. Although Bledsoe is very warmhearted towards Willie May and her six children, she continues to maintain a platonic relationship with him, remaining faithful to her husband and vowing not to remarry. She states she married Medcalf for better or for worse and feels it wrong to commit adultery no matter how badly he treated her and the children.

The story alternates between Willie May and Jim Bledsoe as Milliner duly manages to bring all his narrative threads together in a neatly tied conclusion.

There is a good story here although some of the connections are a bit forced such as the various individuals from Willie May’s past who coincidentally wind up in Memphis at the most opportune moments. Also, there should be less telling and more showing.  Nonetheless, Milliner’s characters are vivid and his exploration of story and storytelling will captivate readers.