A Harvesting of Souls

I just finished reading A Harvesting of Souls.

It is set in the fictitous American Midwest town of Taylorsville in the late 1950’s.  The book begins in an ice cream shop attended by a local teen named Betty on a wintery day.  She is all alone, business is slow, and she is reflecting on her future if she remains in this small town.  She had a friend who recently left town to lead a more exciting life and Betty ponders following in her friend’s footsteps.  Shortly before closing, she gets an odd, grissly-appearing customer that makes her feel uneasy.  This creepy fellow reveals himself to be a medical examiner who is headed to the next town to survey the victim of a murder.  Little does Betty know, that the victim this unusual customer is headed to see is the friend she had been thinking of.  You see, there is a curse on Taylorville.   Residents who attempt to leave it behind will surely be the victim of unfortunate circumstances.  The same is true for non-residents who attempt to move to Taylorville.

The book goes on about many strange occurances of different people trying to leave or move to Taylorville and all meet unfortunate fates.  Another strange aspect of the curse is that the population of Taylorville always remains a constant 4,253.  For every new birth, there must be a corresponding death.  As a result, a town member deciding to have a large family is going to be frowned upon.  There is one such family, the Boersma’s, that has four children. For much of their early lives, at least, these children are shunned by the other children of the town for being members of a large family.  Eventually though, one of the sons becomes very interested in the curse and its origins and becomes a key member of this small society.

It is later revealed that everyone in the town has the same Dutch heritage prior to arriving in Taylorville 140 or so years earlier.  There is even one resident who has been around for the entirety of that time.  He represents an almost shaman figure in the story.  By the end of the book, the townspeople discover the truth about themselves.  They are re-incarnates of souls dating back to the lost city of Atlantis and they eventually re-discover their long-lost purpose for being.

This book can be found at Lulu.com

 

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