Free Book! You are invited to ask for a free copy (free except for $2 shipping expenses) of Osmond Beckwith's novel Vernon. Send your request by e-mail to me at aman@sonic.net, subject line VERNON, and I'll send you the author's mailing address. Please do not send money to me. Because of the high shipping expenses, this offer is only for USA addresses. My old friend Mr. Beckwith is a writer, playwright, and publisher. Now in his 90s, he wants to dissolve his library and offer his books to good homes. Vernon: An Anecdotal Novel by Osmond Beckwith Published by Breaking Point, New York, 1981. 195 pp. Illustrated by Michael McCurdy. ISBN 0-917020-02-7. $10.00 As the subtitle indicates, this first novel by a writer of short fiction consists of episodes in the life of a farm boy, Robert Parsons, from first memories through sexual awakening, in and around the fictional country town of Vernon during the Twenties and Thirties. However, both time and setting are purposely vague in comparison to the intensely and minutely detailed perceptions and emotions that Robert feels during the course of a normal childhood. Beckwith uncannily evokes the mind of a child rationalizing the strange ways of an adult world and coping with the changes in his own body and capabilities. McCurdy's stark woodcuts give an aura of added significance. An interesting experiment in the psychological novel, beautifully designed and printed. -- Shelly Cox, Special Collections, Southern lllinois University Library, Carbondale In addition to the Shelly Cox review above, Vernon has been praised by G. Legman, X. J. Kennedy, Piers Anthony, and other authors. Back to "Updates"