An American Outrage: A Novel of Quillifarkeag, Maine (SIGNED COPY)
by: G. K. Wuori

Chapel Hill NC, Algonquin Books, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Harcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. SIGNED BY AUTHOR on title page. This is the story of what happened to Ellen DeLay in Quillifarkeag, Maine. Quilli (to the locals) has a lot in common with the small towns that Stephen King so often writes about: there are strange characters with strange names (to some of us) who have lived in the area all their lives, as did their parents before them and their grandparents before that--you get the idea. The narrator tells us that his daughter is a killer and he wants to get the whole story down. He takes his time about it, but what we know from the get-go is that Ellen DeLay was gunned down by four female officers of the law who pumped two hundred rounds into her body. Ellen had been married to Joe for 25 years, but she left him after he accidentally locked her in the part of his truck where he kept his tools--for four days. Ellen thought that Joe was trying to kill her while Joe thought that Ellen had left him. In any case, this incident prompted Ellen to head for the north woods, where, over the years, she learned to dress hunters' kills and became a respected businesswoman. There were a few, especially kids, who thought she was just a crazy woman in the woods but, for the most part, Ellen was left alone. Over the course of 250 pages, the narrator carefully pieces together the details of what happened one afternoon at St. Antoine du Plupart and, just as importantly, what happened afterwards. Being from Maine, the narrator takes his time. He has other things to do and other stories to tell, but in the end every detail about what is truly an American outrage is told. G.K. Wuori is the author of Nude in Tub and has a wonderful gift for language and a heartfelt affection for the place about which he writes.