This title gets its name from the challenges faced by the protagonist, Jessie. Her idiosyncratic Granny Isabelle seemingly her only ally against grinding poverty, Jessie navigates a dysfunctional family and indifferent or antagonistic forces beyond that seem to tower over her like the Virginia Blue Ridge in the era following World War II. Jessie struggles to make something not only of her own life, but that of your younger siblings. “This novel is not for the faint of heart. Linda Bledsoe has given us an unflinching look at how poverty can ravage a family. . . . A powerful read.” – Wayne Caldwell. “Through the Needle’s Eye is a moving novel about one child’s need for love in a hardscrabble world. Young Jessie tells much of her story herself, and her voice is both gritty and poetic. Linda Bledsoe’s novel is an exceptional debut by a very talented writer.” – Ron Rash. Linda Bledsoe worked for thirty-three years as a family nurse practitioner and lives in Stuart, Virginia.
Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2019. 272 pages. Trade paperback.