Augusta: A Novel, Celia Ryker, Author
This story is written with such tenderness, it reflects the warmth and affection the author has for her background and her family, since the novel is based on the life of her grandmother who had an indomitable spirit. The author has presented the story of her grandmother’s life, which began in the Ozarks, with so much compassion, as she benignly and bravely dealt with the obstacles in her path, making her ability to surmount them routine, that it became a bit difficult to imagine the actual hardship of the life she faced.
Augusta, somewhat naïve and only thirteen, was married to a much older man, Simon, the father of her best friend. They moved away from Arkansas to a tenement in Detroit, which although not luxurious, was a step above the farm. They had indoor plumbing! After two children were born, Thelma and Ivon, her life went from almost idyllic for her, to a life of absolute poverty without enough money to feed her family adequately. Simon said he fell in love with another woman, Gloria, and he left “Gus” stranded, without any support from him. He went back to Arkansas and sued for divorce. Helped by friends, she worked in a restaurant for Mel, and she tried to raise the children as best she could.
Soon, a charming, blue-eyed, man came into the restaurant. His name was Ottis. He pursued her. He was a successful businessman who courted her and the children, and so she eventually married him, as well. She was still so young, but seemed to have finally achieved a normal lifestyle. She had a real home with modern appliances, a garden, and a husband who seemed to be truly devoted to her and her children. She had two more children with him, during which time his success turned into failure, and like most men in her life, he turned to drinking. When his behavior was discovered by the authorities, her two oldest children, who had confessed to being afraid of him, were removed from the home and placed in foster care. Devastated, she was able to arrange to send the eldest to her parent’s farm, where she would work like an animal, and the other to an orphanage, where she would yearn for her sister. For some reason, they did not know about the two youngest children, Lottie and Buddy, and so they remained with her.
Ottis continued to drink and became more abusive. He got involved with the wrong kind of people, and one night he simply left the house and never returned home. She was alone and defenseless. Friends came to her rescue again, and they watched her children, enabling her to continue to work for Mel in the restaurant, but she was unable to really make ends meet. As life became more difficult, Augusta chose to basically “sell” her youngest child to a childless couple that could provide not only for Lottie, but for Augusta and her remaining children, as well. How else would she be able to keep most of the family intact? It is difficult to even judge her for what she did, because she was so helpless in the situation she found herself. She did what she thought she had to do to survive and keep the rest of her children with her.
The author has used her own grandmother as the model for Augusta, and although this story might at times be hard to believe, especially with the fairytale like ending, the fact that it is based on the stories the author was told about her own family, makes it more credible and an interesting read.