Winter Rider

Book by Fleming, Berry

Originally published in 1960, this novel by the long-neglected writer ( Col. Effingham's Raid ) who died this past September at age 90, features a gently exhilarating ending. It is a quiet story: Bill Johns, a 50-plus author, is delivering the long-delayed and much-anticipated manuscript of a novel to a Georgia airfield to meet a deadline in New York. He gives a lift to a strange, plain young woman named Jo Seeley who wants to be the best violist, if not in the world, then the best she can be. After the car breaks down in a desolate area, the pair trek into the woods where they become involved in a primitive country funeral. Then they're piloted through coastal waters by a taciturn, possibly sinister Indian. All along they discuss art, and eventually Jo's sharp opinions goad Bill into realizing his "comeback" book may not be the best he can do. Fleming's usual wry tone is here, with some brilliant set pieces, especially the grave-digging scene where Jo plays for the dead: "Bach always manages a happy ending."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.