Each Vagabond by Name
Margo Orlando Littell, 2016
University of New Orleans Press
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781608011223
Summary
When a group of traveling people descends on the sleepy town of Shelk, Pennsylvania, Zaccariah Ramsy, owner of the local bar, finds himself drawn into their world after a hungry man turns up on his doorstep.
Meanwhile, Stella Vale, Ramsy's former love, believes that her long-lost daughter might be among those who begin to rob townspeople's homes.
As tensions between Shelk residents and the newcomers rise, Stella and Ramsy must decide whether they will remain isolated from the world around them--or reach for a life of new possibilities.
A piercing tale of isolation, redemption, and belonging, Each Vagabond by Name is a powerful exploration of loss by a commanding new literary voice. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—Oct. 29, 1976
• Where—Connellsville, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Dayton; M.F.A., Columbia University
• Currently—Maplewood, New Jersey
Margo Orlando Littell grew up in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town where crumbling mansions are all that remain of the coal-and-coke wealth from the early twentieth century, when the town led the United States in millionaires per capita. Now, nearly half the population lives at or below the poverty level, and haunting, once-splendid buildings in the old downtown can be purchased for a song.
After fifteen years of living in New York City, Barcelona, and Northern California, she now lives in northern New Jersey with her husband and two little girls. Still, southwestern Pennsylvania is the place that inspires almost all her fiction.
She is driven to write about characters who are rooted to a place and who, even if they succeed at leaving, feel pulled toward home for one reason or another. She finds inspiration in odd rummage-sale finds, visits to her hometown of Connellsville, PA, and newspaper articles that give a glimpse of quiet struggles and preoccupations that are just to the side of the expected thing.
The winner of the University of New Orleans Publishing Lab Prize, Each Vagabond by Name is her first novel. (From the author.)
Visit the author's webpage.
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Discussion Questions
1. Stella has never given up hope of finding Lucy. But when she finally gets the blanket, her hope seems to evaporate. Do you think Stella will continue to hope to find Lucy? If so, do you think she bases this hope in realistic expectations?
2. Again and again, Ramsy remembers Hawk’s words: Worry’ll undo you. He claims that he’s always stayed out of people’s business, and his involvement with JT and the other thieves is new territory for him. How accurate is his own self-assessment? Is Ramsy more compassionate than he gives himself credit for?
3. When Ramsy grieves JT, he grieves both for JT and for "what he recognized of himself in him." What did Ramsy see of himself in JT? How are they alike and different?
4. The disappearances of Lucy and Liza bring Ramsy and Stella together, and Liza’s return is partially responsible for their breakup. What role do Liza and Lucy play in their eventual reconciliation? Discuss the impact of missing and found children on the evolution of Ramsy and Stella’s relationship.
5. How do the thieves change Ramsy’s life? How do they change Stella’s? And how do they change Smelk?
6. The thieves break into houses and use violence against the locals. Why does Ramsy feel compassion for them? Why doesn’t he join the local men in trying to make them leave?
7. Consider the definition and connotations of "vagabond." In what way are Ramsy and Stella vagabonds? Besides the thieves, could any other characters be considered vagabonds?
8. Ritual and tradition are a big part of life in Smelk. What traditions and rituals do the locals value most? To what extent is the anger against the thieves related to their disrupting these important rites?
9. Do you think Ramsy sees Smelk as his home? Why or why not? Does his idea of "home" change throughout the novel?
10. Ramsy doesn’t put much thought into domesticity, and the meals he cooks for himself are bland and simple. What does food represent to Ramsy? What role does food play in the novel?
11. Is Ramsy a moral character? What is his moral code? Consider the choices he makes regarding Emilian, JT, Jack Kurtz, and Marcie.
(Questions courtesy of the author.)