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Roger Hileman and Dave Hoing are co-authors of the short story collection Voices of Arra. Roger lives with his wife Lu in Iowa City, Iowa, and Dave lives with his wife Joni in Waterloo, Iowa. Although Hammon Falls is quite serious, the authors themselves rarely are. They collaborate almost exclusively via email, as they have a tendency to act silly when they get together in person. In 2005 they skipped a day of the World Fantasy Convention in Madison, Wisconsin, because they were hungry. They drove the nine-hour round trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to eat a chicken dinner cooked by Dave's sisters Cindy and Patti—singing theme songs from 1960s TV shows the entire way. True, they missed mingling with a lot of famous writers at the convention, and they didn’t get any work of their own done, but in their defense, it was really good chicken.
Reviewed by Anne Boiling for Readers' Favorite
Dave Hoing and Roger Hileman, authors of Hammon Falls, found an interesting photo. The woman in the photo captured their interest and stimulated their imagination. Hammon Falls is the history the authors created for the woman in the photo.
2008: Will Hammon was in his 90s when his daughter found the box containing the cross. The memories came flooding back.
1893: A cyclone destroys the town of Pomeroy, Iowa. Most of the citizens start over but not William Morrissey, he gave up and willed himself to die. Leaving Margaret to fend for herself. Sometime later she married G.W. Hammon. He was several years older than his wife and he was quite wealthy. They had one son, George.
1914: George met Cora Curtis the daughter of famed boxer and mobster type, Luka. When Margaret and Luka discovered their children were seeing each other they forbid it. When they discovered Cora was going to have a baby they allowed the couple to marry but kept them apart. George and Cora ran away. Cora died in childbirth. Grief stricken George ran away before discovering his son survived.
This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It amazes me that this story was created because of a photograph. The plot reads like a true story. The characters come to life on the pages. I felt as though I was part of the story.
The story is not told in chronological order. The authors spoon feed the readers a bit of information at a time. We begin in 2008 with Will in his 90s. The story is told in flash backs. The story is not divided into numbered chapters. Instead each section has a date and the name of the central character.
Luka obviously loved his daughter as much as he was capable of loving. It would have been interesting to know more of his history. He profited from prohibition. He was a man that would stop at nothing to get what he wanted and he never let anyone stand in his way.
As a mother Margaret came across as cold, distant and controlling. She loved her first husband; at least she loved the prestige his name gave her. She truly loved her grandson Will.
At one point I wondered if Luka loved Margaret and she had spurred his love.
George truly loved Cora but he was immature in his reactions. Cora was spoiled but loved George deeply.
Will surprisingly grew into a nice young man. Surprisingly because of the drama that surrounded his birth. He was honest despite growing up with Luka as his guardian. Will’s daughter was a lot like her grandmother Margaret.
There are many other characters that play an important but smaller part. We all make decisions. The plot of Hammon Falls proves that we often make those decisions without considering the consequences. If William Morrissey had been stronger, if Margaret had been a more demonstrative mother, if Luka had not been crooked, if Cora had not been expecting a baby, and if George had not run…that’s a lot of ifs. A lot of decisions were made in this plot and each one led to affects on the next generation.
It took me longer to read this book than usual. I was savoring every word. Hammon Falls is a fantastic read. I highly recommend it.
