The Turning Of Belva Goode

Gene Hensley's novel is set in the coal mining town of Cyclone, West Virginia, around the time of the Korean War. West Virginia is a state of tree-covered mountains and narrow, twisting roads. There is a provincialism, a bond between the people and the land where they were born and raised. People are caught up in immediate circumstances, family life and the struggle for food. It is soup and crackers until hog killing time.

Belva Goode is 28. She married young and has six children. Poverty and constant toil have aged her. At her best, she is still beautiful. Her smile is bright. Her hair glistens. In school, she was the prettiest girl. She could have had anyone. People wonder what she saw in Bill.

Bill Goode is Belva's husband. He works the coal mines. He is proud and jealous and resents it when Belva takes a job as a waitress at Bailey's Hotel. That his wife works outside the home undermines Bill's manhood. But the Goodes are in debt. Bill borrows money to buy gas.

Tommy James returns to Cyclone. Tommy was an athlete in school and knew Belva. He made good. He is married but has no kids. He is in Cyclone to negotiate a deal with the Majestic Mining Company.

Belva and Tommy get reacquainted. Tommy has money. He is well-dressed. Belva is struck by his youthful appearance even though he is the same age as her husband. The reader senses the direction in which the story is headed.

Belva is revitalized by her job as the gap between her and Bill widens. Hensley guides his readers effortlessly through Belva's transformation. As she tells Tommy about her children, Tommy falls in love. It is her openness. Husband and wife continue to drift. Bill is bitter about Belva bringing food home from the hotel to feed their family. Belva consents to go with Tommy to his hunting lodge. The sexual tension percolating below the surface comes to a boil. They make love, "violate their marriages" as the author puts it. Belva wonders if Tommy loves her. Tommy consults his lawyers about engineering Belva's divorce from Bill.

I had a problem, one which is addressed in the book. Why would a man in Tommy's position waste himself on a woman with six kids? He could find a younger woman and have a child of his own. Either Tommy is more naive than we believe or he really inexplicably loves Belva.

Bill learns of Belva's and Tommy's affair. Bill has gone from being a loving husband to being dangerous. His response to his wife's infidelity is automatic. He takes his rifle and fires a shot into Tommy's Jeep as it descends Premier Mountain. The Jeep goes over the mountain, and Bill assumes he killed the two lovers. What he does not know is that Belva overdosed on tranquilizers at the lodge and was buried by Tommy.

The Jeep is found two years later as Hensley delivers twist on twist. Bill's shot missed. Tommy drove his Jeep over the mountain in a suicide. A note was found in the wreckage with financial provisions for Belva's children. Agnes, Belva's oldest, emerges with an understanding of the tragedy surrounding her parents.

The novel poses moral questions. Is Bill just as guilty as if he had actually committed murder? Did Belva and Tommy pay for their sin? Or is this merely the playing out of random, inconsequential events in the West Virginia mountains?

The Turning of Belva Goode is a thoughtful, compelling read, long enough to develop characters and plot and short enough to hold our attention. The title derives from Belva "turning against her husband," at least in his mind. Belva's ghost in a blue dress, believed to have been seen on the mountain, appears on the cover.