Book Review: Drought by Scott Alexander Hess

Reviewer: Alan Chin

Publisher: Rebel Satori Press (June, 2025)

Pages: 158

Rating: ★★★★★ 

 

A recluse from Newark, New Jersey, Parnell, inherits his Uncle Willy’s tobacco farm in Kentucky. Parnell moves to the farm hoping to finally make something of his failed life. Parnell, it turns out, is no farmer. He seems to possess no life skills at all. He is a big man, so large he struggles just lifting himself off a chair and walking to the next room. Yet with this inheritance, he prays he can achieve something for once in his life. On the farm, three things become abundantly clear: 1) The tobacco farm is in ruins due to a sustained drought, 2) Parnell can’t save the farm without substantial help, and 3) there was a great deal more to Uncle Willy than Parnell could ever have imagined. Parnell soon befriends Darl, who works at the local Sonic Drive-in, also John, an unusual pastor. Both guide Parnell down a path that literally unearths a long-hidden crime. This path, however, also gains Parnell a new sense of self.

 

Drought is a deftly crafted yarn. The fears, loneliness, anxieties, and surprising intimacies touch something deep in me. I loved this novella. I’ve read several of Scott Alexander Hess’s novels and Drought is my favorite. I loved it for its quirky characters, for its compassion, for its unexpected plot twists. It began slowly, but with beautiful writing and an excellent voice. For me, the story really unfolds when the POV switches to Uncle Willy’s backstory. This backstory describes a stunning love story, told with patients and charm, nothing rushed, nothing missed. It really grabbed me. Then the story swings back to Parnell’s POV and glides to a bittersweet conclusion, ending on a note of hope. 

 

This novella is a gem. Short but wonderful. This author has demonstrated that with plentiful talent, one can write an engrossing yarn in very few pages.