A Rosebud Need Not Have a Mind

About the Book

As neighbors, three families, the POPPYLLONES, the GRAVENS, and TRACYS, have a front row seat to miseries of the ´Great Depression´ in Cedarville, Idaho. They doggedly persevere only to discover the terrible path to economic stability will be World War II. Good humored ´POPPY´ POPPYLLONE is the first to settle in Cedarville, arriving on a freight train. Abject poverty and "black lung" from his work as a coal miner doesn´t prevent him from enjoying life with hilarious drunken antics, resulting in numerous confrontations wtih the law.

Simple wife, SADIE, two sons, brash, boisterous CODY RAY, solemn TURK, and caustic daughter, WINNIE, a brilliant maverick in the family´s lopsided existence, patiently tolerate his shenanigans. The second family to arrive is the GRAVENS. EARL Gravens, jobless and homeless, living in a car with a mentally deteriorating wife, a newborn infant, and three small children, makes a tragic decision, at the expense of two of his children, RUBY and PEARL, to acquire a legal address needed for government aid. The third family, the TRACYS, CLAIRE, CRANDALL and two children, MEG and MARCUS, move to Cedarville and a shaky future in "sales". Wealthy, domineering JUDGE WORTHINGTON, Claire´s father, contemptuous of his son-in-law, reluctantly saves Crandall from a jail sentence and urges Claire to return to BROOKHAVEN, the judge´s expansive holdings. The depression leads to Crandalls abandonment of his family, leaving Claire to a life of bizarre fantasy, as she tries to conceal their true condition from her children and her father. Teacher and town treasure, MISS ABBY works valiantly to improve the plight of townspeople, managing to outwit haughty ELWOOD PITES, town official known as "Prune Pit Pites", a threat to her many programs. Concern for student, IVORY GRAVENS, causes Miss Abby to quote Masefield´s, "A ROSEBUD NEED NOT HAVE A MIND" when beautiful Ivory´s risky behavior threatens disaster. MEG TRACY, as a teacher´s assistant, has a secret love for popular teacher, CHRIS BOWER, whose startling behavior disappoints townspeople. WINNIE POPPYLLONE´S staunch admirer, musically talented ARMANDO receives a work assignment as piano player at the local brothel in a confusing mix up and later convinces a troubled Ivory, Meg and Winnie to accompany him to confer with ROSIE, colorful madam of the bordello. The three friends separate when Winnie marries a soldier and leaves town, Ivory moves in with a sympathetic preacher, and Meg, inspired by Miss Abby , leaves for college. She returns twenty years later as wife of an advertising executive, finds Winnie has divorced, returned and married Armando. The two visit Ivory and Meg is saddened by her bizarre behavior, exacerbated by her marriage to the preacher, fanatic HOLLIS KREBBS. Meg discovers she is no longer comfortable in the simple lives of her friends and longs for the luxuries of her Tudor in the east. As she departs she decides to forget the day´s disturbing events, to retain her fond memories intact, nestled in the warm glow of yesteryear.

About the Author

“Lookin’ For God” is the third novel by author, Helen McLean, preceded by “A Rosebud Need Not Have a Mind”, a depression story and “Chateau de Grace”, an account of an elite school run by an aristocratic lady and her two maiden daughters, who are scandalized by events when they unwittingly harbor a foreign spy. The author’s early interest in writing, as editor of school newspapers plus editor of a column in the local paper, gave way to raising a family that includes twelve grandchildren and two great- grandchildren. She attended Colorado State Teacher’s College, and San Diego State University and lives in San Diego, California.