GRAVETTE - Gravette author Crow Johnson Evans has written a volume that’s sure to appeal to readers of all interests. “Flights of Fancy” is a collection of her short stories, essays and a novella written from such varied perspectives as a young girl growing up in the Ozarks, a pair of nocturnal gardeners, a reluctant passenger on a car trip, a shopper at a flea market and a spirit floating free from its body. One story, “Incident at Hurricane Creek,” is uniquely told by a tree.

“Sleeping in Cars: An Autobiographical Essay” gives a synopsis of some of Crow’s many adventures and stories and incorporates her interest in music throughout. Her love of travel produces settings ranging from Beaumont, Texas, to Beirut to the jungles of southern India. And interwoven throughout are some of Crow’s songs, several from her popular “Hearsay” CD.

The author has a special knack for character development. Her reader can really get to know Miss Henrietta, the main character in the first three stories, and you’ll just want to take off on a walk with her or sit down, listen to her homespun wisdom and watch as she weaves a memory rug. You could just sit down and visit with Mona and Arnold, an institutionalized elderly couple, or chuckle with Mary Ellen and Sarah as they tie up tomatoes.

A couple of the stories would make excellent scripts for a TV crime drama. In “Finding Miss Verna,” three boys find a naked body in an abandoned house, and “Big Martha” introduces us to a drug user and former prostitute who’s hospitalized after a street fight in which she heroically defends a handicapped vet in a wheelchair. One reader commented that “Madame Butterfly: An MB Mystery,” the novella that concludes the book, would be excellent if made into a movie.

All in all, the book provides a lively journey through time and space, a pleasant distraction from the cares of the everyday world. It’s one everyone will want in their personal library.

News, Pages 10 on 04/24/2013