The Ice House

by Laura Lee Smith

Overview

“A thought-provoking multinational tale . . . [that] will challenge your crime solving skills and teach you lots about the Scottish Highlands.” —The St. Augustine Record
 
From a writer who’s been praised for her “intelligence, heart, wit” (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls), The Ice House follows the beleaguered MacKinnons as they weather the possible loss of the family business, a serious medical diagnosis, and the slings and arrows of familial discord.
Johnny MacKinnon might be on the verge of losing it all. The ice factory he married into, which he’s run for decades, is facing devastating OSHA fines following a mysterious accident and may have to close. The only hope for Johnny’s livelihood is that someone in the community saw something, but no one seems to be coming forward. He hasn’t spoken to his son Corran back in Scotland since Corran’s heroin addiction finally drove Johnny to the breaking point. And now, after a collapse on the factory floor, it appears Johnny may have a brain tumor. Johnny’s been ordered to take it easy, but in some ways, he thinks, what’s left to lose? This may be his last chance to bridge the gap with Corran—and to have any sort of relationship with the baby granddaughter he’s never met.
 
“Smith weaves their stories expertly, moving from Jacksonville to Scotland and back, from another disaster to a laugh-out-loud moment. Her tenderness toward her characters and subtle understanding of class differences in American society are reminiscent of such novelists as Richard Russo and Jennifer Egan, but this heartbreaking, heartwarming novel is an original.”—Tampa Bay Times
 
“A beautiful character-driven novel.”—Indie Picks Magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802189318
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/26/2020
Series:	Books That Changed the World
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	1,026,994
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Laura Lee Smith is the author of the novel Heart of Palm. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories; New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best; New England Review; and other journals. She lives in Florida.

Editorial Reviews

09/25/2017
A spirited cast makes up the foundation of Smith’s delicately spun story of family, loyalty, and the difficult choices people must make when forgiving someone. Johnny and Pauline MacKinnon spend their days trying to keep their Florida ice factory afloat as they skirt around the topic of Corran, Johnny’s estranged son from a previous marriage. Corran is believed to have stolen his stepmother’s ring to buy heroin, but is now trying to stay sober and raise his infant daughter in Scotland. Johnny is skeptical of the latest turn in Corran’s behavior, but, after he is diagnosed with a potentially malignant brain tumor, he has to decide how to make use of the weeks leading up to his surgery. Johnny sets off for Scotland to find Corran, leaving Pauline behind to deal with the ice factory’s legal and financial troubles. In a tiny cottage perched near a chilly loch, Corran battles his inner demons, unwilling to acknowledge his father’s belated reconciliation attempts until fresh tragedy forces them together. Peppering the story with affecting interludes that trace the evolution of Johnny and Corran’s relationship, Smith (Heart of Palm) majestically captures the urgency of reconnecting with a loved one when time seems to be quickly slipping away. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Heart of Palm:

“Intelligence, heart, wit . . . Laura Lee Smith has all the tools, and Heart of Palm is a very impressive first novel.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls

“Incandescent.”— O, the Oprah Magazine

“[A] fine, funny first novel . . . A heaping dose of Southern soul with a whole lot of chutzpah thrown in.”—Atlanta Journal Constitution

“A knockout . . . It reminded me often of the novels of Richard Russo . . . Smith . . . creates a vivid sense of place . . . A fine, bittersweet taste of the Sunshine State.”—Tampa Bay Times

“I could feel the heat, the glare off the Intracoastal. Like a sandspur, Heart of Palm sticks with you, drawing blood.”—Rita Mae Brown, author of Southern Discomfort and Rubyfruit Jungle

“A spirited Southern family saga . . . Fans of Fannie Flagg will enjoy this novel.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Heart of Palm . . . will leave you crying, laughing, and longing for a bygone era.”—Florida Travel + Life

“A big, engrossing and very Southern look at a family in turmoil, Heart of Palm is made to be read on a veranda during the steamy summer months.”—Arizona Republic

“Smith’s debut novel exudes authenticity . . . She turns a phrase with wit . . . Writ[ten] with agility and empathy.”—Publishers Weekly

“Smith is a brilliant writer, and Heart of Palm brims with lush vitality, loss, and desire.”—Julianna Baggott, author of Pure and The Prince of Fenway Park

From the Publisher

10/01/2017
Johnny MacKinnon and wife Pauline are in a world of hurt. Their Florida ice-making plant, which has been in Pauline's family for decades, is in the crosshairs of an OSHA investigation, triggered by a lawsuit over an ammonia leak. Johnny suspects that a local meth dealer tampered with the tank, but so far their lawyer has turned up no proof. Johnny's recent collapse at the factory reveals a mass in his brain, requiring urgent surgery. His son Corran, a recovering heroin addict whose endless bouts of rehab financially bled the MacKinnons dry and caused a seemingly irreparable rift between father and son, is back in Scotland raising his baby daughter alone while his ex-wife spends years in prison. Johnny travels to Scotland to make amends with Corran, leaving Pauline in Florida to run the plant alone as her panic at the approach of two colliding deadlines—the lawsuit and Johnny's growing tumor—skyrockets. VERDICT Smith's (Heart of Palm) gift for irresistibly charming, flawed characters is once again in evidence in this tale of good people and strong marriages tested by life's cruel roadblocks, human nature, and the limits of love. [See Prepub Alert, 7/26/17.]—Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

Library Journal

2017-08-30
The pileup of crises in the life of a Scottish-born businessman comes with a silver lining: an opportunity to mend old wounds and make things right.It never rains but it pours these days for Johnny MacKinnon, who has been diagnosed with a potentially cancerous brain cyst just as the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has brought a claim of negligence against his creaky old ice-making factory, the Bold City Ice Plant, after a leak of ammonia gas. The fines could sink the business. Then there's his shattered relationship with his 30-year-old son, Corran, whose heroin addiction has survived three stints in rehab. Father and son are no longer speaking after Corran's last visit, when some important valuables went missing. Is Corran clean, now that he's a single parent to baby daughter Lucy? And what about Johnny's two wives? Current partner Pauline is beginning to regret never having children of her own, while his previous wife, Sharon, is struggling with her own husband's incipient dementia alongside Corran's need for child care help. Smith (Hearts of Palm, 2013) kick-starts her second novel, set (like her first) in the environs of Jacksonville, Florida, with this busy agglomeration of dilemmas but then shifts gear, relinquishing the sense of urgency as Johnny—in the company of a comic-foil teenager, Chemal, who will act as driver—returns to Scotland for an uneasy reunion with Sharon and Corran. Although the clock is ticking on Johnny's brain surgery and the OSHA investigation, the novel meanders indulgently on either side of the Atlantic until a near-death experience reorders the landscape. Now, it turns out, there's a solution to every obstacle. Insight, good humor, and generous hearts abound in this readable but baggy saga of starting afresh, which opens with originality but closes with an excess of tidily ticked boxes.

Kirkus Reviews