“Surrender” by Jennifer Acker has a charming cover. Deep pink goats frolic across a pale pink background. Inside, the book deals not just with charm but with issues of importance to our area: community, agriculture and sustainability.
The main character, Lucy, is in her 40s. She and her much older husband, Michael, have recently moved to rural western Massachusetts from New York City. There he taught at Columbia University and she did public relations work for the university.
They now live on Lucy’s family’s farm, where she is operating a small but growing goat dairy. She supplements her goat income by working at the local general store. Michael is retired and is growing feebler in body and in mind.
From the outset of the book, Lucy is overwhelmed. Michael has invested most of the couple’s savings in a dubious enterprise started by one of his former students. When the investment is lost, the formerly comfortable pair find themselves in precarious financial straits.
Lucy has discovered that raising and milking the goats is no easy enterprise. To make matters worse, her goat-raising mentor dies by suicide, leaving her without an important lifeline. Still, Lucy adores the goats and the feeling of carrying on a family tradition.
“How do I manage my anger and despair?” she asks in the first-person narration. “Well, that’s why a woman has a barn.”
Fortunately, Lucy has friends. Her employer at the general store is fun and supportive, and community members rally to her support. Even a grouchy neighbor eventually comes around and helps with the goats.
To make life more interesting, Lucy’s best friend from high school, Sandy, is back in the area, and the two strike up a romance.
Even the romance is precarious, as romances often are. Sandy’s company is installing large-scale solar panels in the community, a controversial topic. She promises Lucy precious income if Lucy will allow panels on her farm … but Lucy worries about how this technology will affect the precious, vital landscape.
The book thus explores issues many of us in rural areas face.
How can we practice small-scale agriculture today? How can we get along with neighbors who may not share our vision of the countryside? How do we weigh obligations to past and present loves? How do those of us who are aging marshal our energies and our resources?
In the end, Lucy does her best to address these questions and others. She is a flawed heroine, but one for whom the reader roots.
Writer and editor Jennifer Acker is based at Amherst College. She has a number of upcoming appearances in our area, and “Surrender” (Delphinium Books, 275 pages, $28) is available at local bookstores. For a full listing, visit jenniferacker.com/media-events.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning writer and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.