Wixson captures Maine in her second novel

After reading Jennifer Wixson’s first novel, Hens & Chickens, I was anxious to get started on her second novel, Peas, Beans & Corn. These are two of Wixson’s four novels called The Sovereign Series.

Sovereign is a small Maine town where these engaging stories take place. And I have to say that Wixson is well anchored in rural Maine, and captures it brilliantly in her novels, from the way we speak to the wonderful caring people who live there.

That’s not to say her novels aren’t filled with intrigue, and yes, even some characters who are a bit less than admirable. But you will love her main characters, who I predict, you will never forget. You may even know them! And if you live in central Maine, as I do, you will recognize the locations, businesses, and other things in Wixson’s novel.

If you would like to read my review of Hens and Chickens, you can do that on this website. It was posted here on December 20 in the book review section.

Peas, Beans & Corn’s main characters, 35-year-old Maine Army Guardsman Bruce Gilpin and 21 year-old college student and organic foodie Amber Johnson, are minor characters in Wixson’s first novel who take center stage in her second novel. And boy what a stage that is.

These two actually meet on a bus taking them both to Sovereign, and it is love at first sight. But that love is both complicated and challenging, and their relationship will keep you flying through this novel. And I’m sorry but I can’t tell you how it ends up.

There’s a lot more going on in this novel including the revival of an old corn shop, and honestly, I read the book in two days, always reluctant to put it down to do something else. Fortunately, I guess, one of those days was that Saturday where the snow turned into ice, giving me a very good excuse to stay home and read.

You won’t need an excuse to read Peas, Beans & Corn, and I guarantee the first thing you do after you finish the novel will be to grab a copy of Wixson’s third novel The Songbird of Sovereign. Yup, I’m starting that tonight!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.