Corrine, Edna, and Imogene: A Family of Good Women by Teddy Jones

She is the link to Imogene’s other family, the Goods, which started as six women, of which Imogene’s grandmother Corrine was one. It was on their farm that Imogene’s mother, Edna, was raised. Corrine’s journal is a key to the past and to Imogene’s lineage, this group of single women, some with children, who farmed for their substance and independence. Celibacy was one rule that allowed them to maintain their freedom. Imogene keeps her grandmother’s journal in a trunk and takes it out to read intermittently throughout the novel; in this way, she brings the past to the present. Also, Ben Callahan, a carpenter; Sam Norton, a lawyer; and, later on, significantly, R.B. Stone, who works undercover for the Texas Rangers, may be seen as part of Imogene’s “other” family. Like the drillers Imogene and Sue Ellen feed, these three men are very present in the boarding house and in the boom town of Borger.

Borger is Imogene’s home. Her rooming house may be seen as a respite from the oilfield and most importantly from Dixon Street, where prostitution and gambling are allowed go unchecked due to the corruption of the law enforcement and politics. Just as there is trouble in town—Herwig, owner of illegal houses, is thought to be responsible for the murder of Mr. Holmes, the district attorney—there is trouble in Imogene’s boarding house: Barkley, a driller who thought he was being treated unfairly, at first harasses Imogene by damaging her house, and then sets it on fire. Luckily, Imogene and Sue Ellen escape unharmed, and their dog Big Guy, injured in the fire, eventually recovers. With the help of Ben and Sam, and the generosity of the drillers who have contributed to a fund kept by the bank, Imogene and Sue Ellen are able to go back and live in their home, which was their place of business, only now the business will be run a bit differently.

Imogene’s life, also, is on the threshold of change. Who am I? She is the daughter of Edna, the cousin of Sue Ellen, the romantic interest of Sam, and a businessperson who provides for the needs of men. Behind her rooming house, she keeps poultry and a garden. There is also a shed, and the shotgun Ben has loaned her, which comes into use. Also, well before the fire set by Barkley, she was offered a job teaching school, and is about to take on that new role, which she studied for in college before settling in Borger. The biggest change is that, by the end of the novel, Imogene has a father. Edna has passed on before the story begins, but lives on in her mother’s journal. One concern in the journal is education. From the journal, Imogene learns that her mother studied in Austin at the university, but she left her studies because her mother was ill and she was needed on the farm. But the journal also left Imogene with questions. Not to tell too much of the story, but these questions and their answers are revealed to the reader just as they are to the storyteller. The reader can only say Borger is a better place for her being there.

Behind Imogene’s house, a stray cat gives birth to kittens. A stray dog wanders onto Imogene’s property, finds a home, and takes on a name. This is a novel of nurturing and of people helping people. Against the backdrop of corruption, lawlessness, martial law, and murder, A Family of Good Women is the timeless, universal story of good people coming together to triumph over evil. Teddy Jones does what all good storytellers do: she creates a world. Much of Imogene’s world revolves around process: cooking meals, sewing, attending meetings of a women’s group; in leisure time, listening to baseball games at night on the front porch with Sam, whose radio is inside. One event she learns of is the infamous stock market crash of ‘29, on Wall Street. All of these happenings in Imogene’s life are juxtaposed with events in the lives of her grandmother and her mother, as revealed in the journal. Through the journal comes the idea that to know where we are, we must know where we are from, and who we are from, our lineage. At one point, Imogene tells Sue Ellen that what worked for their grandmother and their mothers will not necessarily work for them. They have their own lives to live. Teddy Jones brings these good women to life with exacting details and realism. To care, readers must know. Jones does a superb job in letting her readers know, in making them wonder what will happen next, and in making them care about this boom town, this community, and this family of good women. Taking the basis of historical facts, Teddy Jones has written a fiction of startling originality. A story told in a voice of subtle humor and abiding affection, by Imogene Good, whose I may stand for ingenuity.