Ellen Recknor
Prophet Annie (1999)
Author: Ellen Recknor
Genre (and subgenre): Novel of the West
Plot Summary:
Upon the death of her mother, Annie Pinkerton Boone learned that she has been promised in marriage to Jonas Newcastle, a man who escorted her grandmother (pregnant with her first child) west years before. Less than two weeks later in Arizona, she married the man and became a widow (again) in the same day. Unfortunately, as the birds dove out of the sky to dive bomb her head at the funeral, Annie learned that she was now stuck with her husband in an unexpected way – in her head, and he could sometimes kick her out! Because he now could provide predictions of the future from the “great beyond,” he/she became known as “Prophet Annie.” Moving from local attraction to side show to the travel show of P.T. Barnum, Annie learns what it is to have her own live, through sharing it with others - her dead (second) husband, a half-Navajo French chef, an African cheetah, and handsome “saddle tramp.”
Geographical Setting: Arizona (for the majority of the book)
Time Period: 1881 and 1943
Appeal Characteristics:
Written within the framework of a book being submitted for publication, this is the honest, funny, first-person story of “Prophet Annie” Pinkerton Boone Newcastle. Very fast-paced and far more focused on the character herself/themselves (read it and you’ll understand), this is definitely more a “novel of the west” than a “western novel.”
Red Flags: sexual references, death of minor characters (and many birds), possession/haunting
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