Spanning the years 1917 through 1937, “The Finest Hat in the Whole World” follows Des Stewart and his niece Phena through the decades of the Great World War, flu pandemic, Prohibition, and the Great Depression. Yet, the world’s turmoil is nothing compared to that of their fractured family. Des Stewart is “the responsible one” of his siblings. While his elusive older brother Gerald and … irresponsible younger brother Eddie are living new lives with spouses and children of their own, he has put his life on hold to care for their widowed invalid mother who is gradually slipping into senility. Now thirty years old, he tends bar at a saloon close to home. Haunted by tragedy, burdened with guilt, secrets, and regrets, he is depressed, overweight and feeling hopeless about his future. An opportunity for redemption arrives in the winter of 1917 when nine year-old Phena comes to live with him. Troubled, temperamental and volatile, the girl has exhausted the patience of her parents, Gerald and Louise. However, Des and Phena have a bond that originated the night of her traumatic birth, a bond that distance and circumstance could never break. Can Des overcome his insecurities and bitterness as he molds Phena into an honorable woman? And… what does it mean to wear the finest hat in the whole world?
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Sometimes the finest hat isn’t the kind you wear on your head but the role you play in someone’s life.
Colleen A. Parkinson’s The Finest Hat in the Whole World is a well-written historical fiction; it has a classic feel to the writing. The story spans the early 20th century from the 1917 war through the Depression. While the effect of those major historic events is touched on, The Finest Hat in the Whole World is really about the Stewart family.
The leisurely pace of the novel allows for ample exploration of the setting and characters. The light plot tension allows readers to focus on the characters’ relationships and growth. There are undertones of darkness in both Des and Phena’s family secrets that greatly impact these two central characters. I enjoyed this character driven story and the role Des and Phena had in each other’s healing and life.
Ms. Parkinson deftly deals with the issues of child abuse, child neglect, and mental illness as she tells the Stewart family story.
Wow…what a story! This is a very good book. The characters in this book are ones you can relate to…not glamorized, perfect people but, people with flaws as well as good characteristics. It is set in the time period of 1917 – 1937 and the author is very descriptive about the time in our country and what the characters experienced and the hardships they endured.
Des lives with his Mom and his niece who came to live with them when her own mother was going through some very trying times. The secrets of so many in the family come out and you fell intertwined and invested in their stories.
I loved this book and I highly recommend it!
Only the finest writers can accomplish what Colleen A. Parkinson does in her fascinating historical novel The Finest Hat in the Whole World. Sometimes, rarely, a reader feels overwhelmingly privileged to read just such a book. To Kill a Mockingbird comes to mind. And there is a reassuring resonance with this major classic to be found in Ms. Parkinson’s book – both in the utterly endearing relationship between the rebellious, once-abused girl Phena and her devoted Uncle Des with whom she lives, having been willfully abandoned by her stoically indifferent father and her abusive, mentally-ill mother – and also in the rarefied atmosphere of its moralistic message.
The year is 1917, the United States is just about to enter the devastating first World War, and Des – who is a bar owner in small town USA – is too old at thirty to be drafted. Due to a situation markedly more complex than it initially seems, 9 year old Phena is given into the custody of Des. She too is more complex than she at first appears. Unnecessary to mention: their relationship is nothing but complex, but it is based clearly on devotion and adoration, which becomes a primary driving force behind the deep, compelling, twenty-year long plot development in this masterpiece of writing. Remarkably, even the most difficult plot elements are handled with immeasurable grace and credibility.
Every character in Colleen A. Parkinson’s book The Finest Hat in the Whole World is finely drawn and made absolutely real and psychologically credible and intriguing, for the author often elicits individual personality quirks out of experiences subconsciously endured because they happened so long ago, sometimes leaving subtle emotional scars that linger into adulthood. However, what elevates her writing into the realm of truly great fiction – award-winning fiction – is Ms. Parkinson’s flawless ability to evoke a vivid sense of presence through her stunning use of lean but gorgeous prose, crafted as meticulously as one might prune and nurture a perfectly-attended-to, thoroughly stunning victory garden … or a daughter.