Your Eyes in Stars (review)

Jessie Myrer is still adjusting to her life in Depression-era Cayuta, New York, where her father was transferred to be warden of the Cayuta prison a few years ago. Enter Elisa Stadler, recent German immigrant and sudden bosom friend to the introverted, tomboyish Jessie. At the outset, it doesn't seem the two teenagers have a lot in common—Elisa is worldly and confident whereas Jessie, who keeps a scrapbook tracing the whereabouts of wanted criminals, is shy and sullen. The arrival of Slater Carr, new prisoner and bugle player extraordinaire, brings their lives together in unforeseen ways in this beautifully developed tale of a friendship both profound and surprising. The first part of the novel ends with a shocking suicide/murder in the home of a leading Cayutian and Elisa's subsequent departure for the seeming safety of Germany, which, in 1939, is rife with problems of its own. The second part of the novel unfolds in letters, tracing Elisa and Jessie's friendship after the incident in Cayuta and into the war-torn 1940s. Told in retrospect and from Jessie's point of view, the tale is wrought with quiet reflection and careful characterization of the central players; descriptions are evocative rather than literal, and readers will find themselves puzzling out the motivations behind actions. Third-person narration occasionally interrupts to offer background detail on Slater Carr; the information presented in these asides is not information that Jessie and Elisa have, so that, as the story's mystery unfolds, the reader has more background information than the characters themselves. There is an element of trust required on the part of the reader that the multitude of components offered in Kerr's novel will come together; it is, in fact, the subtlety of the interrelatedness of parts that makes this friendship tale unique, and those willing to see it through will deem it well worth reading.