"The Flicker of Old Dreams"

Susan Henderson is a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the recipient of an Academy of American Poets award. She is the author of the novels Up from the Blue (2010) and The Flicker of Old Dreams (2018).

Henderson applied the Page 69 Test to The Flicker of Old Dreams and reported the following:

From page 69:

My father grows quiet. He tries so hard to keep our business afloat, tries every way he knows to keep our customers and potential customers happy.

“He’s a bad memory for this town,” he says, carefully choosing his words. “I think our neighbors will feel relieved the less involved he is.”

“We have to do what’s right for the customer,” I say.

“We have to do what’s right for the town.”

“I won’t do anything unprofessional, Pop.”

“Let me handle it, then."

This is a scene between father and daughter, funeral director and embalmer. I don't think it's representative of the book because so much of the story is about death--the death of this small town and the death of a way of life, as well as the dead bodies moving in and out of the funeral home. This scene, however, touches on the trouble that's brewing between Mary and her father now that a former and long-hated resident of this small town has come back to bury his mother.

Learn more about the book and author at Susan Henderson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Up From the Blue.

--Marshal Zeringue