Okay, it's time to return to that small New England town that has more drama going on within its city limits than every soap opera on TV put together! This is the second book in author Roger Fuller's continuing stories of the townsfolk of Peyton Place. These stories give readers a chance to see some of the other people in Peyton Place, outside of the main characters from Grace Metalious's original two novels. As with the first of Fuller's books, there are a few of the original characters who are mentioned or make a quick appearance, but this is not their story. Also, as with Fuller's first story, this one is not really a sequel to Metalious's books, but rather, a story that runs concurrent with the events from those books. And so, with this second book, we get a look at a new family who has some secrets of their own...
Carnival in Peyton Place is the story of the Welles family. Unlike the Romeo/Juliet story of the Bramble and Welsh children from the prior book, this story takes a close look at four of the five members of the Welles family. Lew Welles is the father, driven by a mad desire to be successful and a better man in the community than anyone, including Leslie Harrington. Kathy Welles is his wife, who lost her arm years prior in a carnival fun house accident (more on that later). Jim Welles is the only son, who has decided to follow his calling to be a minister. Dina Welles is the oldest daughter, who has managed for years to keep every boy at bay and never once letting them get to even "first base." And then there is Roberta, the youngest daughter and youngest of the three children, who, by the end of the story, is the only one in the family not keeping secrets. It seems this one Labor Day weekend, when the carnival has come to town, all of the Welles' secrets are about to explode...
Which leads us to Lew Welles. Lew is a man on a mission. Coming from a poor background, Lew proved himself quite the pharmaceutical salesman, quickly working his way up in the company until he made a name for himself. He fell in love with Kathy Ellsworth, but he did not want to start a family until much later in life - until fate intervenes, and Kathy ends up pregnant at 16, despite their use of protection (which, interestingly enough, is carefully talked around without actually saying it). After her carnival accident, she loses the baby, but Lew feels guilty, so he marries her over her parents' objections. Their life seems good at first, but Lew is drafted into the war, and everything changes. He finds his desire for a "whole" woman leads him to cheat on his wife again and again, even after he returns home and they have children. His latest affair - with the woman who plays the organ at their church! - may be his undoing, as it is not the secret he thinks it is.
And poor Jim Welles. He has wondered through high school and college, unsure of what to do with his life. At odds with his father over his political and social beliefs, Jim eventually believes he has been called to become a minister, and so he settles down and begins studying hard to do God's work. But even that does not seem to satisfy his father. On the night before the carnival opens, Jim makes his way down to the carnies, where the pre-opening night shenanigans include gambling, drinking, and some ladies who are more than willing to offer services that would never be permitted during the day! Jim partakes of the taste of sin, only to stagger home full of regret and shame. How can he be a minister if he falls prey to a sinful life so easily? Is he truly called to be a minister, or is this simply another in his long list of failures that he calls a life? Perhaps a confrontation with his father is what he needs to truly find himself once and for all.
Last, but by far not least, we come to Dina Welles. A brilliant student at school. Always courteous and well-mannered, and a symbol of virtue and propriety, never once letting any boy take advantage of her the way they do other girls her age. In fact, she is called frigid, and the boys find her a challenge, hoping to be the "one" that opens her up (in more ways than one!). But what none of them knows - in fact, only one person other than she knows - is that she has a horrific reason for being the way she is. You see, her Uncle George ... the man she looked up to most in the world ... the man she admired and sought to please more than her own father ... the man that took her under his wing and taught her how to fish ... he also is the one that took her virginity by the most vile act a man can commit upon a woman, and that was when she was only fourteen-years old! She has held that secret for years, and when her Uncle George kills himself (accidentally, the townsfolk believe, but Dina knows otherwise), will she finally be free of this cursed memory that has kept her from finding and experiencing love?
Labor Day arrives, the carnival opens, and all the walls in the Welles household come tumbling down. While the book starts off at a slow pace, feeding the reader background information on each of the characters piece-meal by switching back and forth between the "present" and the past, it does gradually pick up speed, and by the final act, the story becomes a real page-turner that can't be put down. Despite their flaws, Fuller creates characters that you come to not only care about, but that you can sympathize with and, to some degree, understand their actions. That final confrontation between Lew and his son, Jim, is worth the read just by itself. I honestly thought Fuller was leading in one direction with Jim, and he even hints at it, but perhaps because of the time period this was written, he could not go down that path (the same path I thought Metalious was taking with poor Norman in that first Peyton Place novel).
I am definitely enjoying this series and how Fuller is building upon the characters and situations that saw little to no time in Metalious' two books. Now that we've seen the Bramble, Welsh, and Welles families, I am anxious to see what families will face drama in the next book in this series...
RATING: 7 bottles of liver and iron tonic out of 10 for creating fresh drama for the denizens of Peyton Place to face.
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