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    One Good Mama Bone: A Novel
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    One Good Mama Bone: A Novel
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    One Good Mama Bone: A Novel
    Ebook413 pages7 hours

    One Good Mama Bone: A Novel

    By Bren McClain and Mary Alice Monroe

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Set in early 1950s rural South Carolina, One Good Mama Bone chronicles Sarah Creamer's quest to find her "mama bone," after she is left to care for a boy who is not her own but instead is the product of an affair between her husband and her best friend and neighbor, a woman she calls "Sister." When her husband drinks himself to death, Sarah, a dirt-poor homemaker with no family to rely on and the note on the farm long past due, must find a way for her and young Emerson Bridge to survive. But the more daunting obstacle is Sarah's fear that her mother's words, seared in her memory since she first heard them at the age of six, were a prophesy, "You ain't got you one good mama bone in you, girl."

    When Sarah reads in the local newspaper that a boy won $680 with his Grand Champion steer at the recent 1951 Fat Cattle Show & Sale, she sees this as their financial salvation and finds a way to get Emerson Bridge a steer from a local farmer to compete in the 1952 show. But the young calf is unsettled at Sarah's farm, crying out in distress and growing louder as the night wears on. Some four miles away, the steer's mother hears his cries and breaks out of a barbed-wire fence to go in search of him. The next morning Sarah finds the young steer quiet, content, and nursing a large cow. Inspired by the mother cow's act of love, Sarah names her Mama Red. And so Sarah's education in motherhood begins with Mama Red as her teacher.

    But Luther Dobbins, the man who sold Sarah the steer, has his sights set on winning too, and, like Sarah, he is desperate, but not for money. Dobbins is desperate for glory, wanting to regain his lost grand-champion dynasty, and he will stop at nothing to win. Emboldened by her lessons from Mama Red and her budding mama bone, Sarah is committed to victory even after she learns the winning steer's ultimate fate. Will she stop at nothing, even if it means betraying her teacher?

    McClain's writing is distinguished by a sophisticated and detailed portrayal of the day-to-day realities of rural poverty and an authentic sense of time and place that marks the best southern fiction. Her characters transcend their archetypes and her animal-as-teacher theme recalls the likes of Water for Elephants and The Art of Racing in the Rain. One Good Mama Bone explores the strengths and limitations of parental love, the healing power of the human-animal bond, and the ethical dilemmas of raising animals for food.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of South Carolina Press
    Release dateFeb 14, 2017
    ISBN9781611177473

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    Reviews for One Good Mama Bone

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Linda Zagon's review Oct 28, 2018 · editit was amazingRead 2 times. Last read October 28, 2018.WOW!!!Kudos to Bren McClane, Author of “One Good Mama Bone”, for such a captivating, insightful, intense, emotional, and thought- provoking novel. Bren McClane’s vivid descriptions of the rural South Carolina landscape in the early 1950’s and her colorful cast of characters are absolutely amazing. The Genres for this novel are Fiction and Historical Fiction. The author weaves many important topics together to tell this story. One of the questions that comes to mind, Is it Nature or Nurture that causes human being’s behavior?The author does give us a glimpse of some of the characters as they are growing up, and how their parents place certain expectations, and show lack of parenting skills. For example, Sarah Creamer, was brought up being told she was too fat to go to church and her mother keeps repeating that “Sarah doesn’t have one good mama bone in her'”. Now Sarah is an adult and finds herself in charge of a little boy that was brought into the world by her best friend and husband. Despite their betrayal, Sarah is on hand to help with the delivery of a little boy. The mother kills herself, leaving Sarah holding the baby. Sarah remembers her mother’s word, that ” she doesn’t have one good mama bone in her”, and panics. Sarah and her husband bring up the baby, Emerson Bridge.When Emerson Bridge, turns seven, Sarah’s husband dies, leaving her in dire circumstances. They live in poverty, and barely have enough to eat. Sarah sews dresses and sells them to try to survive. Sarah owes so much money to many people. Sarah hears of an opportunity to make money and give her son a friend. There is a contest where young boys can help their steer grow, and win prize money. Some of the boys don’t realize what will happen to their steer. His mother buys the calf from Luther Dobbins, who will do anything to win this contest. Luther has a son the same age as Emerson.Emerson Bridge names his calf Lucky. Lucky is crying all night and the next morning, they find that his mother has made it four miles and is feeding him. Sarah calls the Mama Cow, “Mama Red”, and starts learning some mothering skills from the cow. Sarah is really trying to find her “Mama Bone”.I appreciate that Bren McClane discusses how important animals are to humans. It is mentioned that humans should be kind to animals. Important topics such as parenting, being a Mother and a Father, compassion, religion, family, emotional support, friendship, love and hope are seen in this story. There are twists and turns , betrayals, loyalty, tragedy, love and hope. I would highly recommend this fantastic novel for those readers who love a well written story.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. The characters the plot..just everything. My heart just melted reading it. This was a book I just couldn't put down. Looking forward to reading more by this author.
    • 4/5
      When the novel begins Sarah's best friend is delivering the baby of her husband's girlfriend. The best friend dies right after the birth and Sarah and her husband are left the raise the baby that they named Jefferson Bridge. Life is rural South Carolina in the early 50s is tough and there is often no food to eat in the house - especially after her husband loses his job and uses what little money they have to buy alcohol. He dies very early in the story and Sarah is left to raise Jefferson Bridge but there is a big problem with that - her mama told her at an early age "You ain't got one good mama bone in you, girl." With these words ringing in her head since the age of six, Sarah doesn't believe that she has the capacity to love Jefferson Bridge like a mama should. That is just a brief synopsis of the book but the real story is whether Sarah can love her husband's son like her own, build a relationship with him and be a real mother. She first has to learn to gain trust in herself and her abilities before she can create a family. She has to overcome the words that her mother said to her so many years ago and find her own 'mama bone' to be a mother to a boy who is not biologically her son.This novel is beautifully written and so descriptive of life in the rural South. The hardscrabble life that the characters are living is apparent on every page - no food to eat, no money in the bank, no wood for the fire or gas for the car. But by the end, the reader realizes that it's not the material things that really matter in life, its the love in a family that is the most important thing in life.I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
    • 5/5
      I'd give it ten stars if I could.

      Oh, what a story, with the sense of time and place set so solidly on the pages, when you stop reading it might take you a second to realize you're actually still in your house, on your couch, or chair, and no, you have not entered Sarah Creamer's world. But you'll believe you have - just for that split second. You might need to take a breath before you plunge back in. I had to - several times.

      I'll tell you this, I've always hated seeing that one lone steer hauled down the road in a cage at the back of a truck.

      I loved Emerson Bridge, that beyond brave little boy. I grew to love little LC, and his mother Mildred. Luther? He had his own demons, without a doubt.

      I told the author, and I'll say it here, one of the best books I've read in a long time. And I meant it.
    • 5/5
      This book grabbed me from the beginning and wouldn’t let got. Like many southern authors, McClain is able to pull me into a world in which I have no familiarity. I grew up in the 1950’s, but my life was much different than that of a single mother caught up in the cycle of poverty and no education in a rural areal of South Carolina. A mother’s love is fierce. She will do anything to make life bette for her son. The characters are vivid, strong and quirky. Few books make me read past my bedtime, so when I read one that keeps me from my sleep, I celebrate it.