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Job's Corner Chronicles #2
Carley's Song
The year is 1950, and overseas, a war rages in Korea. But the small North Carolina town of Job’s Corner has conflicts of its own, and more secrets than Carley Marshall can keep track of.
Poised at the edge of a mystifying adult world, twelve-year-old Carley grapples with complexities she doesn’t understand. Why the prickly tension between the beautiful divorcee, Maddie Raeburn, and the school principal, Jerry Donaldson? What lies behind the sudden and disturbing change in behavior of Grace, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Kate’s maid? How did Emily, Maddie’s sister-in-law, acquire her broken jaw and bruised face?
As the web of circumstances, relationships, and faith that surrounds her grows increasingly intricate, Carley makes a shocking discovery at the on the town’s outskirts, and a longstanding mystery suddenly becomes something much more sinister. One very ugly skeleton has popped out of someone’s closet. But whose? The futures of innocent people hang in the balance as Job’s Corner digs to get at the root of its deepest, darkest secret of all.
Poised at the edge of a mystifying adult world, twelve-year-old Carley grapples with complexities she doesn’t understand. Why the prickly tension between the beautiful divorcee, Maddie Raeburn, and the school principal, Jerry Donaldson? What lies behind the sudden and disturbing change in behavior of Grace, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Kate’s maid? How did Emily, Maddie’s sister-in-law, acquire her broken jaw and bruised face?
As the web of circumstances, relationships, and faith that surrounds her grows increasingly intricate, Carley makes a shocking discovery at the on the town’s outskirts, and a longstanding mystery suddenly becomes something much more sinister. One very ugly skeleton has popped out of someone’s closet. But whose? The futures of innocent people hang in the balance as Job’s Corner digs to get at the root of its deepest, darkest secret of all.
448 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2001
3 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Sprinkle
47 books94 followersAka Patricia Houck Sprinkle.
When I met and married Bob, he looked over our budget and demanded, "Why don’t you write a mystery to pay for all the ones you buy?" I immediately knew I wanted to put a body in a building where I’d once worked. However, being over-endowed with the Protestant ethic, I wrote "important" things first and only wrote the mystery in my spare time, so my first mystery, Murder at Markham (reissued by Silver Dagger in 2001), took thirteen years to complete. It took even longer for me to learn that any writing which gives me pleasure is important, whether fiction or non-fiction.
Since 1988 I have written twenty mysteries, four novels, and five non-fiction books. I am grateful to my readers and editors for letting me do what I enjoy most in the world. Bob has concluded that writing is not a profession, it's an obsession--my favorite vacation is to go to a place where somebody else fixes my meals and where I can write more than I do at home, without interruptions. Thanks, if you are one of the readers who keeps my fingers on the keys. I enjoy spending time with you at conferences, book clubs, and signing events.
When I met and married Bob, he looked over our budget and demanded, "Why don’t you write a mystery to pay for all the ones you buy?" I immediately knew I wanted to put a body in a building where I’d once worked. However, being over-endowed with the Protestant ethic, I wrote "important" things first and only wrote the mystery in my spare time, so my first mystery, Murder at Markham (reissued by Silver Dagger in 2001), took thirteen years to complete. It took even longer for me to learn that any writing which gives me pleasure is important, whether fiction or non-fiction.
Since 1988 I have written twenty mysteries, four novels, and five non-fiction books. I am grateful to my readers and editors for letting me do what I enjoy most in the world. Bob has concluded that writing is not a profession, it's an obsession--my favorite vacation is to go to a place where somebody else fixes my meals and where I can write more than I do at home, without interruptions. Thanks, if you are one of the readers who keeps my fingers on the keys. I enjoy spending time with you at conferences, book clubs, and signing events.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 5, 2022
Carly's Song: #2 Job's Corner Sprinkle, Patricia Houck* * 4 Hist.F Hist.WWII Carly 12 trying to straddle childhood & grown up truths, beautiful divorcee Maddie Baeburn becomes her teacher & injured principal,things abruptly change when Grace helps family her violent brother , domestic violence & long hidden truths come out about disappearance of her daughter Freda 2017 8/10/2017 8/6/2017
February 9, 2019
Excellent. Did not want it to end.
March 6, 2019
A wonderful Christian novel set in the South with complex characters, suspenseful plot, and dashes of humor throughout...
August 4, 2021
Delightful. Patricia Sprinkle characters are down to earth, everyday people. Great view of life as it was in the 1950s.
January 17, 2024
Book 2, again set in Presbyterian manse; a lot can happen to 12 year old Carley and the rest of the family.
March 20, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. It takes place in 1950 and is told from the point of view of 12 year old Carley. I actually picked this up at a used book fair and didn't even realize it was the second in a series, but I was able to follow along with no problem and don't feel like I missed anything by not reading the first one.
I really enjoyed the setting of a small town in 1950. It's just over 400 pages and there is quite a bit that happens during the course of the book but it was a slower paced book and I really enjoyed that. Carley often pretends that she has a radio show and talks to her listeners and I thought that was a really interesting way of filling the reader in on what was happening.
There was some heavy content but for the most part it was softened because it's told through Carley's point of view. For example someone is raped but Carley overhears a conversation and doesn't understand why someone would tape the girl. As a reader you're able to put all the puzzle pieces together and figure out what happened but it was easier to read because it wasn't told in a graphic way. There is also domestic violence and an unsolved murder and one scene that I didn't like where she inadvertently sees a husband and wife at an intimate moment in their bedroom.
One quote I liked was "So I decided to heed the Bible's wisdom that God helps those who help themselves." "Actually, that's Ben Franklin," Uncle Stephen interrupted apologetically. "God's far more likely to help those who can't help themselves."
Overall though I quite enjoyed this book.
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 59
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185
I really enjoyed the setting of a small town in 1950. It's just over 400 pages and there is quite a bit that happens during the course of the book but it was a slower paced book and I really enjoyed that. Carley often pretends that she has a radio show and talks to her listeners and I thought that was a really interesting way of filling the reader in on what was happening.
There was some heavy content but for the most part it was softened because it's told through Carley's point of view. For example someone is raped but Carley overhears a conversation and doesn't understand why someone would tape the girl. As a reader you're able to put all the puzzle pieces together and figure out what happened but it was easier to read because it wasn't told in a graphic way. There is also domestic violence and an unsolved murder and one scene that I didn't like where she inadvertently sees a husband and wife at an intimate moment in their bedroom.
One quote I liked was "So I decided to heed the Bible's wisdom that God helps those who help themselves." "Actually, that's Ben Franklin," Uncle Stephen interrupted apologetically. "God's far more likely to help those who can't help themselves."
Overall though I quite enjoyed this book.
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 59
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185
March 7, 2010
This is Book 2 of the Job's Corner set. The first is 'The Remember Box'. I thought they were both good book, but I liked this one a bit better, probably because I was already familiar with the characters and didn't need to spend the first 100 pages of the book getting into the story. It's a good story. A bit of 'everyday' life in a small southern town in the early 1950's. There is 'domestic violence', the solving of a murder, weddings....
I kind of wish there were a 3rd, just to catch up on characters in later years.
I kind of wish there were a 3rd, just to catch up on characters in later years.
March 27, 2012
LOVE, LOVE this book and the series! Once again, Carley takes you in her world, in Job's Corner with compassion! I really felt like I could identify with her and all the people in Job's Corner. It drew me in page by page! The author did an awesome job with the descriptions of the characters and time! *****'s to this fanstasic series!!!!
October 23, 2008
This is the sequel to The Remember Box. Not quite as good but still a slice of life from the 1950s.
February 4, 2015
Love, loved, loved this book. It was one of those I didn't want to end.
November 5, 2010
Very neatly wrapped up at the end; perhaps too neatly?
September 5, 2017
beautifully sweet
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews