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The Summertime of Baily Lowell Baily Lowell is an extraordinary person who defies her thirteen years in an expression of courage and strength that would reflect well on anyone of any age. After her alcoholic father leaves town, Baily is left alone in the coastal village of Pelton Bay, South Carolina to take care her mother, Elerie, who suffers with complications from Lupus. Baily loves to spend time down on the dock helping family friend Ajax mend his boat. An early hurricane leaves Baily's friend Gregory Rupert dead, and finds her rescuing the Rupert's twin babies. Breta Bolton, the town's black matriarch who has taken care of everybody at one time or another, buries her husband in Pelton Bay with Baily's help and ends up in jail on a murder charge. On the same day, in county court in the town of Dalton up the coast, Evie Rupert, Gregory's mother, is charged with child neglect in connection with Gregory's death. Underlying both charges is the real crime, the murder of three Pelton Bay children. Baily suspects Rollie Simmons, an odd local character who is a science teacher and short-wave radio fanatic. Baily is motivated in her search by the intensity of her passionate relationship with Gregory, a love they share during the year before he is killed. With the help of her sister Julia, Baily endures her losses, survives a shocking climactic courtroom scene, and finds resolution in a bittersweet triumph of poignance and hope. Rachel Corday's Biography: Rachel Corday has won the Iowa Woman prize for her short story, "Island B", the Southwest PEN contest for "Nine O'Clock Class", and has published in the award-winning journal, Negative Capability. She is a playwright as well as a fiction writer, having had eight plays produced in Honolulu, the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver and Boulder, and at the acclaimed Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado. She is a Certified Expressive Arts Therapist and selections from her book, The Common Loon Essays on Serious Mental Illness have been published in the Textbook for Psychiatric Nursing, and the Journal of Contemplative Psychotherapy. Rachel lives in Boulder, Colorado with her dog Maude, to whom The Summertime of Baily Lowell is dedicated. Boulder writer Rachel Corday's first novel, "The Summertime of Baily Lowell," is a quick read richwith imaginative characters and originality. It tells the story of the eponymous quirky teenager, who learns to face death and so, embrace life. Baily lives in the seaside town of Pelton Bay, S.C., with her mother Elerie. Throughout the novel, Elerie becomes increasingly sick from complications of the autoimmune disease lupus, and Baily starts to face the possibility of living without her mother. Corday's novel is refreshing because Baily is no mere cardboard-cutout teenager. She struggles with the same issues so many teens today juggle. Her father, an alcoholic, has abandoned the family. Elerie and Baily live a meager lifestyle supported by Elerie's job writing for the town newspaper. Baily is a multifaceted character who is talented and intelligent. Her mother is a strong, self-reliant single mother. Their relationship is full of love and reveals a mother who encourages creativity and strength in her daughter. The tale begins when a hurricane hits the bay. While on her way home during the storm, Baily stumbles across the body of Gregory, a young boy who was her first love. In dealing with the pain of her loss, she starts to investigate his death and finds herself uncovering a trail of murders. Desperate to solve the case, she ends up taking extreme measures to convince the town of her suspicions. Baily learns that some experiences push us over the edge into adulthood — and there is no going back. Corday's writing is simple, clear and filled with Baily's deepest thoughts, giving us a window into the girl's troubled soul. "The Summertime of Baily Lowell" has what every good coming-of-age novel should, but is not overly derivative of old classics. In the same vein as Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" and John Knowles' "A Separate Peace," it offers insight into how we all learn at a young age to face death's certainty and to stand on our own in life. - By Katie Ford, Camera Staff Writer Return to Book of the Month Archive