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Cora's Turn by George Cope BookSurge
book review by Laura Miller Edwards
"1965. ... They say distance lends enchantment to the view. Not to these old eyes, I assure you. My memories of the time remain sharp focused and unretouched. I recall clearly how Mike's photographs came to be made and I can tell you what role each person involved played."
Cora, the book's narrator, calls on memory to vindicate an old friend. She begins the tale by giving proper credit to and defending the reputation of "Mike" Thorold Carey regarding his famous photograph, Flying Hammer. When Cora, fresh from a brief stay at a mental hospital, takes on the unlikely work of shop manager for The Committee for the Advancement of Study in the Physical Sciences, she meets Carey, a photographer lending his services to the program. It is in this work that Mike produces Flying Hammer, and Cora begins sculpting.
Cora's Turn is a witty, self-aware tribute to art and artists of all mediums, specifically exploring the path of two artists found in the most unlikely of places. Cope draws on wry but honest dialogue to achieve a detailed story of a year, a friendship, and all of the relationships in between, including a poignant look at Cora's interactions with her aging parents, the quirky and sometimes infuriating Donny, the reliable Nick, the agitated Charles, and the incomparable Carey.
Cora and Mike's friendship is the one constant in this story, a comfortable companionship fraught with mutual respect for one another and their respective work. Though they were never lovers, their closeness is irrefutable. This is a novel of starting over, about those who know what it is to have a friend they would defend even after he or she is gone.