In 1976, thirteen-year-old Kit Walker is on the run after being abandoned by her mother and shuffled through the foster care system. When she collides at a Texas gas station with twenty-something criminal Manny Romero, her life takes a dark and sinister turn into a world that is hard to escape.
Manny Romero takes in Kit and grooms her to be his criminal accomplice and eventually lover. Undeniably intertwined, this twosome wreak havoc robbing gas stations across Texas. When Kit gets pregnant at nineteen, Manny insists she gets rid of the child, but Kit is torn. When an opportunity appears for Kit to escape Manny, she decides to take it, leaving him to pay the consequences for a crime in progress. Kit heads to Pecan Hollow, a town where her last known relative lives. She is welcomed by her Aunt Eleanor and builds a new life, although she remains isolated and closed off from the people in town. Her thirteen-year-old daughter Charlie, struggles with her own identity and starts acting out.
When Manny is released from prison fourteen years after his arrest, he comes looking for Kit. He settles in Pecan Hollow and manipulates the people in town presenting himself as a religious reformed man. Kit knows the truth though, and she is aware of the danger and destruction Manny is capable of dealing with. Can she keep her daughter safe, or will Manny make her pay for leaving him all those years ago?
This is a Southern Literary Thriller that is dark and gritty at times. There are characters you will dislike and you may not even warm up to Kit that much. However, the novel paints a vivid picture of a young girl’s life going off the rails after all the adults have failed her. Manny is a predator and recognizes the damaged parts of Kit and uses them to his advantage. Kit becomes a tough resilient adult woman filled with doubt and anger. Her twisted and complex relationship with Manny is hard for her to understand in the context of her new life. There are many moments of high drama and action and the story builds well. Reminiscent of Billie Letts’ Where The Heart Is, but with darker circumstances and less sentiment, this novel will leave you impressed and entertained, but not quite connected.
Set in 1970-90s Texas, a mesmerizing story about a fierce woman and the partner-in-crime she can’t escape, perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and Valentine.
It was 1970 when thirteen-year-old runaway Kit Walker was abducted by Manny Romero, a smooth-talking, low-level criminal, who first coddled her and then groomed her into his partner-in-crime. Before long, Kit and Manny were infamous for their string of gas station robberies throughout Texas, making a name for themselves as the Texaco Twosome.
Twenty years after they meet, Kit has scraped together a life for herself and her daughter amongst the pecan trees and muddy creeks of the town of Pecan Hollow, far from Manny. But when he shows up at her doorstep a new man, fresh out of prison, Kit is forced to reckon with the shadows of her past, and her community is sent into a tailspin.
This gritty, penetrating, and unexpectedly tender novel ensnares the reader in its story of resilience and bonds that define us. With its rich rural landscape, indelible characters, and striking regional language, Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hauntingly intimate and distinctly original debut about the complexity of love—both romantic and familial—and the strength and vulnerability of womanhood.
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