The Girl on Rusk Street

The Girl on Rusk Street

Ten-year-old Bobbi Rogers isn’t supposed to listen to gossip, but she can’t help herself. The arrival of Lucille Harris in Marshall, Texas, during the summer of 1960 causes quite a stir—a beautiful twenty-five-year-old widow will do that to a quiet neighborhood and a sleepy town. Normally, Lucille would have quickly become old news, but then she accepts a teaching position at all-black Bishop College. And, of course, there’s her relationship with Jim Tressell who’s a married man. Bobbi, who takes piano lessons from Lucille, thinks Jim is very nice to help Lucille with her garden. When she catches them kissing, she’s confused but decides they must just be good friends. Then Lucille is murdered, and all eyes turn to Jim—who has no alibi. Only a few people believe he’s innocent. One is his lawyer, the brilliant but inexperienced Rufus Cornelius. Another is Bobbi who’ll help in any way she can to save Jim from the electric chair. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, The Girl on Rusk Street is a look back at what is sometimes called a “simpler time”—and it serves as a reminder that simpler times were often anything but simple. "A wonderful story! Bobbi's smart, curious, nosy, sweet-natured, a "tomboy" who's also interested in what everyone's wearing. Jim's an awfully good character. The suggested sadness of his life is tremendously moving. Lucille is charming." Bill Thompson Editing, New York A debut novel tells the story of a quiet Texas community struck by a horrendous crime. Bobbi Rogers has an idyllic life in Marshall, Texas, in the early 1960s. With her best friends, Katie Baxter and Lawrence "Law" Miller, she has the run of Rusk Street, building forts in the woods and observing the comings and goings of their neighbors. She takes special interest when Lucille Harris moves to town to teach music at the local black college. The young widow "looks like a real movie star," though her place of employment raises eyebrows among her white neighbors. Bobbi quickly becomes enamored of her, as does Jim Tressell, a gardening enthusiast and husband to a wheelchair-bound wife. When Lucille is brutally murdered in her kitchen...Jim is arrested for the crime, but as the trial unfolds there are more questions unearthed than answers. Carlile writes in a colorful prose that deftly evokes the curiosity and naivete of her narrator. The community of Rusk Street is skillfully drawn, and the mystery at the center of the novel is compelling and surprising. An ambitious and affecting murder tale.-- Kirkus Reviews On the surface, Marshall, Texas, in 1960 is a small, picturesque Southern town filled with friendly people, quaint neighborhood gatherings and the chatter of children safely playing on Rusk Street. But soon this quiet, safe town where doors are left unlocked at night will be faced with a horrific crime that will leave its people asking, "Do we ever really know our neighbors?" When young, recently widowed Lucille Harris moves to Marshall, Texas, ten-year-old Bobbi Rogers and her friends, Katie Baxter and Law Miller, watch her as she pulls into the driveway of the vacant house on Rusk Street. The three children are mesmerized by the beautiful, red-haired Lucille with her dark, movie star sunglasses and color-coordinated scarf and lipstick. Bobbie feels drawn to her new neighbor, and though fifteen years separate Bobbi and Lucille, they develop a friendship over piano lessons. Bobbi becomes enmeshed in Lucille's life as do the rest of her neighbors on Rusk Street who are both shocked and curious when they learn Lucille will be teaching music at Bishop College, the black college a few blocks from the neighborhood. As will happen in small towns, Lucille becomes the subject of much speculation, especially when she invites her students to her home to practice. Lucille settles in and, with the help of married, resident gardener Mr. Tressell, starts a garden all under the watchful eyes of Bobbi and her friends. When a number of Bishop's students participate in a local sit-in at the Woolworth's counter, many residents of Rusk Street expect trouble, but no one expects the tragedy that befalls the sweet, pretty music teacher. Their newest resident is dead and one of their own is on trial for murder. All evidence points to Mr. Tressell, but Bobbi is certain he is innocent, and she hopes to prove it. As the town gathers for the biggest trial to ever occur in Marshall, things don't look good for Mr. Tressell, but in a small town, one never knows who is watching. Surprises await the townspeople and nothing is as it seems in this heartbreaking tale. When all is done, neither Rusk Street nor its inhabitants are ever the same. Penny Carlile skillfully captures the intricacies of small town life with its underlying penchant for gossip and conjecture. Within this setting, she wonderfully weaves a tale of deception and sorrow that stays with the reader long after the novel is finished. By also intertwining the anguis