Caveat - Hardcover

Kalpakian, Laura

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0895872234 ISBN 13: 9780895872234

Publisher: Blair, 1998

Synopsis

In 1916, rainmaker Hank Beecham agrees to return to his hometown of St. Elmo, California, to rescue it from a devastating drought and bring honor to his family's besmirched name

About this title

About the Author

Caveat follows Laura Kalpakian's two award-winning collections of stories and six other novels, including These Latter Days and Graced Land. Winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Award and two Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Awards for Excellence, Kalpakian is a California native.

From the Inside Flap

Hank Beecham's rainmaking abilities have brought him twenty years of fame all over the arid West. In 1916, the city fathers of St. Elmo, California, ask Hank to return and rescue his hometown from drought. Rather than pay his exorbitant fee, they propose a bet: Hank's skills against nature. Hank accepts, with this single caveat: he shall get credit for every drop of rain that falls from that day forth.

The bet offers Hank a chance to redeem his family's name. The Beechams were a shiftless lot, luckless, drunken, and violent. Hank's father, a Confederate veteran, had raged and failed on a ranch sentimentally named Shiloh. Hank, however, escaped Shiloh, moved into town with his long-suffering mother, Eulalie. Returning to St. Elmo stirs up Hank's memories of her death and his own love affair with an older woman.

In paying a long-forgotten debt to Doctor Tipton, the grim Hank strikes an unlikely friendship with the convivial doctor. But Lucius Tipton is appalled to discover what Hank truly plans for St. Elmo.

The rainmaker unleashes a devastating flood, destroying lives, property, livestock. And when at last Hank comes to collect on his bet, the city fathers refuse to pay unless_according to his own caveat_he will accept responsibility for the ruination his rain has wrought.

Hank Beecham leaves, vowing to take his money out of St. Elmo's soul. Time means nothing to Hank. Eight years later, he sets up at Shiloh, prepared to take his revenge.

Based loosely on historical events in 1916, Caveat tells a tale of rain and revenge, the power of the past to imprison and to illuminate.

Reviews

YA-In 1916, a renowned rainmaker is summoned and asked to rescue his hometown of St. Elmo, CA, from a drought. Rather than pay the dour Hank Beecham's outrageous fee, the Mormon city fathers propose a wager. If he fills the city's reservoir, he will receive $50,000. Anything less, and the town will pay nothing. Beecham agrees, but with the caveat that he gets credit for every drop of rain that falls from that day forth. When he unleashes a horrific flood that destroys lives, property, and livestock, the city fathers refuse to pay the man, citing his own caveat and holding him responsible for the damage he caused. Beecham vows to seek revenge. Based loosely on historical events in 1916, Kalpakian's novel is a dark, moral fable in which neither hero nor villain is clearly defined. Does the greed of the city fathers justify Beecham's revenge for slights to his family as a youth? Young adults will find this tale illuminating, as both town and rainmaker come to terms with the consequences of their deeds.
Pat Bangs, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Rainmaker Returns to Valley" trumpets the local paper. The year in this winning fable is 1916, and the place is Kalpakian's familiar, fictional St. Elmo, Calif., a Methodist and Mormon stronghold victimized by 302 straight days without rain. Into this arid landscape returns black sheep Hank Beecham after an absence of 20 years, invited by the city fathers in order to break the drought. Along with a reputation for saving towns in similar predicaments, Hank brings a ton of baggage: a drunken Confederate father whose ranch (aptly named Shiloh) was about as successful as the South's efforts in the war; brothers who were either drunks or felons; a sister who's a horse thief; an affair with an older woman; and a mother who taught him, "Never forget a wrong or a slight." Hank bets the city fathers $50,000 that he can fill the town's entire reservoir. There's one caveat: he gets credit for every drop of rain that falls, whether or not it can be clearly attributed to his rainmaking efforts. But Hank does his job a little too well. When, in the wake of his Old Testament downpour, the city fathers renege on their bet, Hank vows revenge. Kalpakian is skillful in evoking the conservative moral and cultural atmosphere of an earlier America; what might have been the plot of a conventional western is elevated to a fully dimensional story of human relationships under crisis. Written with graceful economy, her eighth book (after Graced Land) is an object lesson in being careful about what you ask for. More important, it is rich, never coy and startlingly original.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The year is 1916 and St. Elmo, a small town in California, suffers from drought. Hank Beecham, son of a reviled family, having earned a reputation as a rainmaker, is implored by the town fathers to save the town. Considering his fee exorbitant, they suggest a bet. Hank agrees to use his abilities to fill the Urquita Reservoir. If he does, he will earn $50,000. If not, he gets nothing. On the hunch that rain generally follows battles, Hank relies on explosives. His caveat ensures that he will get credit for every drop of rain that falls from the time he agrees to the bet. However, St. Elmo gets more than it bargained for. Excessive rain creates total devastation, and the town fathers refuse to pay Hank, who vows revenge. Kalpakian (Cosette, LJ 3/15/95) has created a powerful protagonist, motivated by vengeance, whose motto, Never forget, enables him to pay his debts and avenge the past. Recommended.AEllen R. Cohen, Rockville, MD
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Blair
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0895872234
• ISBN 13: 9780895872234
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 257