Delphic Oracle, U.S.A.

Miagrammesto Station, Nebraska, is a typical farming town in the 1920s when drifter July Pennybaker rolls into town. He is quickly smitten with a local girl, Maggie Westinghouse. He manages to convince the town that she has powers just like the Delphic Oracles of old, allowing her to predict the future. It doesn’t take long for the town to change its name to Delphic Oracle, leading to what everyone hopes will be new opportunities. But fate may not be on the side of the two lovers, as we discover through a story of love, loss, deceit, and tragedy that will affect generations to come.

Narrator and Catholic priest Father Peter Goodfellow casts his eyes back to the past as he retells all the details he learned from his Grandmother Willa about the town’s past, while at the same time keeping us abreast of the current events in Delphic Oracle, where the town’s descendants carry on a history they like to keep alive, a lot of which threatens to come back to the fore again with the discovery of old bones in a vacant lot. Could it be the body of July Pennybaker, who disappeared decades ago? Or could his story have been more complex and misunderstood?

Father Peter is not without his own story or fascinating past as he retells the town’s history from inside the local correctional institution. Why is he there? Let’s just say it has something to do with his ex-brother-in-law and a BB gun. And he isn’t the only one with a few quirks in this town. Another of Father Peter’s brothers-in-law, Francis Wounded Arrow, seems to be a perpetual accident waiting to happen. And then there’s Aunt Felicity, the town librarian, who has a mind of her own and isn’t afraid to share it. Other descendants of the town’s previous generations make up the rest of the quirky cast of characters in this entertaining novel, all with their own peculiarities.

I found Delphic Oracle, U.S.A. to be not only an engaging story, but also more emotional than I had anticipated. Mr. Mayfield has a way of making the reader care about his characters, even those with more than a few imperfections. Not to mention his extraordinary ability to weave together a rambling generational tale full of nostalgia, cinematic scenes, and enough twists and turns to keep any reader happy. As a result, it was both memorable and enjoyable.